FedRAMP
U.S. government-wide program that standardizes security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud services sold to federal agencies.
Definition
FedRAMP is the federal program for reusable assurance of cloud service offerings. As of November 1, 2026, its consolidated rules distinguish Program and Agency Certification paths and 20x and Rev5 certification types. Applicability dates differ by type and by obtaining versus maintaining certification. Legacy Rev5 agency authorization and reusable packages remain relevant during transition; the JAB is not a current alternative issuing agency ATOs.What this means in practice
Federal health deployments may require FedRAMP assurance plus agency-specific requirements. Determine the information impact level and, for DoD, applicable separate cloud security requirements. There is no universal FedRAMP Moderate rule for every health-data service.Examples
- Illustrative: A company developing a cloud-based Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) for diagnostic imaging analysis pursues FedRAMP Moderate authorization to qualify for contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for its healthcare facilities.
- Illustrative: When a federal agency seeks a new remote patient monitoring (RPM) platform, it mandates that all prospective cloud service providers demonstrate FedRAMP authorization, ensuring the security of patient health data hosted off-premises.
- Illustrative: A private hospital system, evaluating vendors for a new AI/ML platform to optimize clinical workflows, includes FedRAMP Moderate authorization as a key criterion, recognizing its rigorous security standards even if not strictly required.
- •Do not plan on obtaining a new JAB provisional ATO. Select a current Program or Agency Certification path and assess reusable evidence and agency-specific authorization obligations.
- •Assuming FedRAMP Low is sufficient for health data, VA and MHS deployments typically require Moderate or High.
- •Underestimating continuous monitoring, monthly POA&Ms, annual assessments, and significant-change reauthorization are non-negotiable.
Frequently asked questions
Related terms
Grouped by themeEditor's picks
· Hand-selected related conceptsU.S. federal law governing the privacy and security of protected health information.
Healthcare-focused certifiable security framework that consolidates HIPAA, NIST, ISO 27001, and other authorities into a unified control set.
International standard for information security management systems (ISMS), often required of MedTech vendors by enterprise customers.
Federal control catalogs (800-53) and CUI-handling requirements (800-171) often referenced in MedTech contracts.
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· Same categoryAICPA attestation report on a service organization's controls over Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy, the standard SaaS trust artifact.
AAMI/ANSI standard establishing requirements for medical-device cybersecurity activities throughout the lifecycle.
AAMI Technical Information Report providing MedTech-specific guidance on cybersecurity risk management.
AAMI Technical Information Report on post-market security risk management for medical device manufacturers, the operational companion to TIR57.
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Sources
5 sourcesSources support the definition or relevant regulatory context, not necessarily every claim on this page. Each is graded against our source-tier hierarchy so you can see what rests on binding law versus commentary.
Official-source claim check:
FedRAMP federal cloud assurance is transitioning under 2026 consolidated certification rules; legacy JAB advice is obsolete.
Partial review: verified corrections are applied, but this is not a full accuracy certification. The last full review date is unchanged.
Remaining verification limits
- Secondary regulatory, standards-clause, market-prevalence or procurement claims were not fully substantiated by accessible original text.
- 1FedRAMPTier 2 VerifiedGSAfedramp.gov
- 2FedRAMP MarketplaceTier 2 VerifiedGSAmarketplace.fedramp.gov
- 3CISA - Healthcare and Public Health SectorTier 2 VerifiedCISAcisa.gov
- 4FedRAMP certification rulesTier 2 UncheckedFedRAMPfedramp.gov
- 5FedRAMP pathsTier 2 UncheckedFedRAMPfedramp.gov
Inline markers like [1] jump to the matching reference above.