Protecting patient information and privacy isn’t only ethical and important, it is also the law. Those mandates also provide guidelines for shredding medical records according to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant shredding requirements.
While many hospitals and medical facilities bear this burden themselves, there are many benefits to eliminating this internal process. Here is how a document shredding company can help your business comply with HIPAA laws.
Guidelines for Shredding Medical Records
HIPAA compliant shredding requirements are to protect, among other things, Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Protected Health Information (PHI). While each new and returning patient creates more paperwork and data files, maintaining, protecting, and destroying that information continues long after the patient has left.
Compliance Concerns
Among the many issues and patient-care demands placed on the shoulders of healthcare providers, handling sensitive patient records is one concern providers can mitigate. Using a professional document shredding company can ensure that the handling of PHI stays within compliance.
HIPAA governs acceptable procedures, such as valid forms of destroying records, and requires healthcare agencies to adhere to these protocols. Professional document shredding services will not only handle PHI records, but will also exceed HIPAA standards and requirements.
Certificate of Assurance
Another benefit of using a professional document shredding service are certificates of destruction. In addition to having assurance that patient records have been properly destroyed, proof of meeting HIPAA compliant shredding requirements is also a safeguard against liability.
Having a document shredding service to provide this documentation is one more step that medical personnel can eliminate. The time saved from destroying PHI records to creating documentation of destruction also leads to another benefit of using professional document shredding services.
Improved Patient Care
Imagine the time a medical staff could save if they did not have to collect records, update records, shred records, and create documentation of record handling. How much more time would that allow for reading labs, doing exams, and better patient care?
Professional document shredding services ensure compliance, protect the healthcare providers, and enable the opportunity to provide better patient care. These are only a few reasons why it is a good idea to consider working with an experienced, trusted, and professional document shredding company.
Finding Professional Document Shredding Services
Welcome to M.F. Docu-Shred, where we offer recurring container and scheduled purge services for businesses in Southwest Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle. Let us take the concern out of document shredding so that you can spend more time on patient care. Contact us to learn more or to find out how we can help with your document shredding needs today.
