HIPAA and Shredding

In 1996 the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) was designed to protect individuals from intentional or unintentional misuse of patient information including medical records, billing, insurance and other personally identifiable information. The Security and Privacy Rules under HIPAA further regulates companies by requiring that they have a privacy officer and proper procedures in place to help protect health information.

Who is affected?

• Health care providers
• Health care clearinghouses (those agencies that facilitate health care- billing or transcription services)
• Health plan providers

What is Protected Health Information (PHI)?
HIPAA defines Protected Health Information (PHI) as any personally identifiable information in any format, paper or electronic, that relates to a person’s physical or mental health status- either past, present or future.

PHI includes:

• Medical records
• Billing information
• Insurance information
• Prescriptions
• Patient Charts

Who may have access to PHI?
A range of persons may have access to PHI from food service employees to IT employees, which is why it is important that any employee who could come into contact with PHI be trained regarding privacy policies and procedures.

How do companies remain compliant?
By implementing policies and procedures that ensure a person’s PHI is properly protected and disposed of properly. There are both financial and criminal penalties outlined in HIPPA for non-compliance.

How can US Document Security assist with HIPAA compliance?
Our shredding services provide companies with the assurance that their confidential information is securely destroyed and can not be recovered. A chain of custody is established from the moment we pick up confidential information to the time it is destroyed. We know where the information is at all times. We provide a Certificate of Destruction for all materials once they are destroyed, which helps to further provide proof of compliance.

If you wish to inquire about these shredding services, please fill in the form or call us at 800.880.3539.