HITRUST Consulting & Readiness

BD Emerson prepares organizations for HITRUST e1, i1, and r2 certification: readiness assessment, remediation, and MyCSF evidence preparation. Your External Assessor validates, HITRUST certifies, and the firm that prepared you has no stake in either step.
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Definition

What is HITRUST certification?

HITRUST certification is formal validation that an organization meets the HITRUST CSF, a certifiable framework that harmonizes HIPAA, NIST, ISO, PCI, and dozens of other authoritative sources into one control set. It is the dominant security credential in healthcare vendor risk: health systems and payers routinely require it before sharing patient data with a vendor. Three parties are involved, and the separation matters. BD Emerson provides HITRUST certification consulting on the readiness side: assessment type selection, gap assessment, remediation, and MyCSF evidence preparation. A HITRUST Authorized External Assessor firm then performs the validated assessment, and HITRUST itself reviews the result and issues the certification. Preparation, validation, and certification stay in three separate hands, which is how an assurance credential keeps its value.

Services

What HITRUST consulting services are included?

Assessment type selection
Readiness assessment
Remediation program
MyCSF evidence preparation
Validated assessment support
Interim and recertification

e1, i1, or r2 selection

The three HITRUST assessment types carry very different weights: e1 covers 44 requirements aimed at essential cyber hygiene, i1 is a leading-practice assessment of roughly 180 requirements, and r2 is risk-based and tailored, commonly running several hundred requirements. Customer contracts usually decide, so we read what your customers actually require before sizing scope, cost, and timeline for each option.

HITRUST readiness assessment

We evaluate every requirement in your chosen baseline and score it the way HITRUST scores: on maturity across policy, procedure, and implementation. That scoring is where first-time r2 candidates get surprised, because a control that runs perfectly still fails when the policy and procedure behind it are missing. The output is a gap list with owners, effort estimates, and the score impact of each fix.

Remediation with owners and dates

Gap closure runs as a managed program: every finding gets an owner, a due date, and acceptance criteria tied to HITRUST scoring. Documentation gaps close alongside technical ones, since policy and procedure carry independent weight in every control score. We track remediation weekly until projected scores clear the certification threshold.

MyCSF evidence preparation

Evidence gets staged in MyCSF the way assessors expect to find it: named to the requirement, dated inside the assessment window, and complete before fieldwork starts. Where a compliance automation platform is in place, we wire it into the evidence workflow through our Vanta implementation practice.

Support through validated assessment

Your External Assessor performs the validated assessment, and we work your side of it: fielding evidence requests, clarifying control narratives, managing corrective action plans, and keeping response times short so fieldwork stays on schedule. We never perform the validation ourselves, and that separation is exactly why our preparation holds up.

Interim assessments and recertification

Certification is a cycle rather than a finish line. An r2 certification runs two years with a required interim assessment at year one, while e1 and i1 renew annually. We run the interim readiness check, keep evidence collection continuous so year two does not start from zero, and plan recertification before expiration puts contracts at risk.

Our approach

How we get you to HITRUST certification

HITRUST overlaps heavily with the HIPAA program many healthcare vendors already run. If HIPAA is your starting point, see how the two programs connect through our HIPAA compliance consulting.
01

Pick the right assessment type

The e1, i1, or r2 decision is driven by evidence: what your customer contracts demand, what data you touch, and what your buyers' vendor risk teams accept. We read the contracts first. Choosing r2 when i1 satisfies every customer burns months and budget for no commercial gain.

02

Measure against the baseline

The readiness assessment scores every requirement in your baseline on HITRUST's maturity model, where policy, procedure, and implementation each carry weight. The result is a gap list ranked by score impact, so remediation starts where it moves certification odds most.

03

Close the gaps

Remediation runs with owners and dates, tracked weekly. Documentation debt gets equal priority with technical fixes, because unwritten policies fail controls that are otherwise implemented. Evidence lands in MyCSF as each gap closes instead of in a scramble before fieldwork.

04

Stand beside you through validation

Your External Assessor validates, and HITRUST reviews and certifies. We manage the evidence flow, corrective action plans, and assessor questions through fieldwork and quality assurance, then set up the interim assessment calendar so the certification survives its own maintenance requirements.

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Facing a HITRUST requirement in a contract?

Speak with BD Emerson about which assessment type your customers actually require and how far your current controls sit from certification.

Our Advantage

Why BD Emerson for HITRUST readiness

Preparation with no validation stake

HITRUST validated assessments are performed by Authorized External Assessor firms, and certification is issued by HITRUST itself. We prepare you and stop there, so our readiness scoring has to hold up under an assessor we do not control. That boundary keeps our gap assessments blunt.

Healthcare compliance is home ground

HIPAA, SOC 2, and privacy programs for healthcare vendors and providers are core practice areas here, so CSF requirements map to controls you already run instead of being built twice. The overlap between HITRUST and the rest of your compliance stack is where the savings sit.

We score the way HITRUST scores

Readiness assessments here use HITRUST maturity levels from day one: policy, procedure, and implementation scored separately for every control. Teams that self-assess with yes or no checklists routinely project passing scores and then fail on documentation. Our gap lists price the documentation work in from the start.

How We Work

How we deliver HITRUST readiness

One delivery model runs every HITRUST engagement, whether the target is a first e1 or an enterprise r2 recertification. Each step produces artifacts you keep: scoping decisions, gap lists, remediation trackers, and evidence staged in MyCSF.
Reviews

What our customers say

Great consulting firms for scaling security, compliance, and appsec.

Outstanding partner in Technical and Cyber Due Diligence

Appsec maturity and application hardening.

BD Emerson helped us simplfiy our compliance management.

BD Emerson did such a phenomenal job. What started as privacy support quickly became a full partnership across compliance, engineering, and even business operations. They’re embedded with our team. They understand our product. They move fast. They’re simply invaluable.

Adam Ben Jacobs

CTO @ OneStep GPS

Great consulting firms for scaling security, compliance, and appsec.

Outstanding partner in Technical and Cyber Due Diligence

Appsec maturity and application hardening.

BD Emerson helped us simplfiy our compliance management.

BD Emerson did such a phenomenal job. What started as privacy support quickly became a full partnership across compliance, engineering, and even business operations. They’re embedded with our team. They understand our product. They move fast. They’re simply invaluable.

Adam Ben Jacobs

CTO @ OneStep GPS

We had a hard time finding the right company to partner with in support of our compliance journey. Some vendors sell the idea that they do the work, but then you end up doing everything. The ambiguity is what killed our last project. BD Emerson’s team has such great technical knowledge and understands the standard so well that they made us comfortable with moving fast. This has led to us closing major enterprise customers that were previously out of reach because of security and compliance.

Tom Watkins

CEO @ AMI AssetTrack

Lead an enterprise initiative to overhaul the organization's technology stack from ecommerce, corporate tech, and corporate security.

Supported ISO 42001 exercise and served as internal auditor.

Rubrik's privacy and compliance team began with the backbone of BD Emerson. BD Emerson supported building out the privacy program, GRC (ISO 27001, SOC 2, CMMC, FedRAMP), and the appsec function.

We needed a partner who could move quickly, without sacrificing precision. BD Emerson brought the expertise, structure, and speed we were looking for. Their team became an extension of ours, embedding themselves across the organization, guiding us step by step, and giving us confidence in areas we hadn’t tackled before. The internal audit they conducted was so detailed that even the external auditors called it out. Achieving ISO 27001 with zero nonconformities says everything you need to know about the quality of the partnership.

Walid Souilem

CTO @ FGI Worldwide

We had a hard time finding the right company to partner with in support of our compliance journey. Some vendors sell the idea that they do the work, but then you end up doing everything. The ambiguity is what killed our last project. BD Emerson’s team has such great technical knowledge and understands the standard so well that they made us comfortable with moving fast. This has led to us closing major enterprise customers that were previously out of reach because of security and compliance.

Tom Watkins

CEO @ AMI AssetTrack

Lead an enterprise initiative to overhaul the organization's technology stack from ecommerce, corporate tech, and corporate security.

Supported ISO 42001 exercise and served as internal auditor.

Rubrik's privacy and compliance team began with the backbone of BD Emerson. BD Emerson supported building out the privacy program, GRC (ISO 27001, SOC 2, CMMC, FedRAMP), and the appsec function.

We needed a partner who could move quickly, without sacrificing precision. BD Emerson brought the expertise, structure, and speed we were looking for. Their team became an extension of ours, embedding themselves across the organization, guiding us step by step, and giving us confidence in areas we hadn’t tackled before. The internal audit they conducted was so detailed that even the external auditors called it out. Achieving ISO 27001 with zero nonconformities says everything you need to know about the quality of the partnership.

Walid Souilem

CTO @ FGI Worldwide

BD Emerson didn’t just help us meet our compliance goals; they integrated security and privacy into the core of our operations. I highly recommend BD Emerson to anyone seeking SOC 2 or GDPR compliance, or simply looking to enhance their security team and boost customer trust in their product and services. Their dedication and expertise have been invaluable to our success.

Padraig Reilly

CEO, Boxcore

BD Emerson understood our business requirements and worked side-by-side with us. The policies and controls we developed together not only meet compliance standards but improve how we operate day to day.

Matt Meierdierks

IT Manager, Lincoln Industries

From day one, BD Emerson brought urgency, clarity, and a sharp understanding of what truly matters to our business — earning and keeping customer trust. They went beyond helping us meet compliance requirements; they helped build a foundation for secure, scalable growth. That kind of partnership is rare.

Jason Marker

CEO @ LifeLenz

BD Emerson didn’t just help us pass an audit—they helped us build a sustainable culture of security.

Alexey Indeev

CTO Spare

BD Emerson was essential in helping our company navigate the daunting process of leveling up our security infrastructure. BD Emerson’s impressive expertise and confidence throughout the process helped our team exceed HIPAA and SOC 2 Type 1 standards quickly, distilling what can be an overwhelming process into a streamlined, organized effort. From day one they began adding value and getting us on course. With their help we delivered on a massive security overhaul with both extreme efficiency and thorough attention to details. Because of BD Emerson’s support, we’ve increased our clients’ trust in Titan Intake and the life-changing work it accomplishes for those seeking specialist referrals.

Patrick Bruce

CEO, Titan Intake

BD Emerson didn’t just help us meet our compliance goals; they integrated security and privacy into the core of our operations. I highly recommend BD Emerson to anyone seeking SOC 2 or GDPR compliance, or simply looking to enhance their security team and boost customer trust in their product and services. Their dedication and expertise have been invaluable to our success.

Padraig Reilly

CEO, Boxcore

BD Emerson understood our business requirements and worked side-by-side with us. The policies and controls we developed together not only meet compliance standards but improve how we operate day to day.

Matt Meierdierks

IT Manager, Lincoln Industries

From day one, BD Emerson brought urgency, clarity, and a sharp understanding of what truly matters to our business — earning and keeping customer trust. They went beyond helping us meet compliance requirements; they helped build a foundation for secure, scalable growth. That kind of partnership is rare.

Jason Marker

CEO @ LifeLenz

BD Emerson didn’t just help us pass an audit—they helped us build a sustainable culture of security.

Alexey Indeev

CTO Spare

BD Emerson was essential in helping our company navigate the daunting process of leveling up our security infrastructure. BD Emerson’s impressive expertise and confidence throughout the process helped our team exceed HIPAA and SOC 2 Type 1 standards quickly, distilling what can be an overwhelming process into a streamlined, organized effort. From day one they began adding value and getting us on course. With their help we delivered on a massive security overhaul with both extreme efficiency and thorough attention to details. Because of BD Emerson’s support, we’ve increased our clients’ trust in Titan Intake and the life-changing work it accomplishes for those seeking specialist referrals.

Patrick Bruce

CEO, Titan Intake

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Our accreditations

At BD Emerson, we believe that our team's extensive certifications not only set us apart but also ensure that we provide the highest level of service to our clients.
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between HITRUST e1, i1, and r2?

How long does HITRUST certification take?

Does HITRUST certification cover HIPAA?

Who performs the HITRUST validated assessment?

What does HITRUST certification cost?

What is the most common reason HITRUST assessments go badly?

Do we need HITRUST if we already have SOC 2?

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