The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in 1996. HIPAA compliance is a big deal these days, and it's an integral part of running a reputable business. Healthcare, like many other industries, has been heavily digitized. Medical documents are increasingly being processed, transferred, and viewed online.

It's easy to believe that paperwork is on its way out because of the digital age and the convenience it brings, but this isn't the case. There is still a considerable amount of paperwork to be completed and decades of old archives from previous years.

How Do HIPAA Compliance Shredding Services Work?

Medical records are shredded in three stages:

1. Pre-Shredding

Medical records can be disposed of at the convenience of employees using on-site locked bins or consoles.

2. Shredding

Shredding can take place on-site or off-site at the client's request. A mobile shred truck comes to the client's location and shreds the documents there, known as on-site shredding. They can come in for a one-time cleanout of sensitive documents or schedule regular pickups.

A company can shred documents at a central location using off-site shredding. To meet the requirements of HIPAA compliance in making the information irrecoverable cross-cut shredding is used.

3. Post-Shredding

For environmental and compliance reasons, it's critical to know what happens to medical documents after they've been shred. Shredded waste is typically recycled. A reputable medical record shredding service should provide a Certificate of Destruction (COD) to their client to document the destruction of their compliance records.

Services of HIPAA Compliance

Hard Drive Destruction for HIPAA Compliance

Because many healthcare administration offices are switching to electronic health records (EHR), several factors to consider when protecting clients' personal information, healthcare administrators can choose between cloud-based and locally hosted EHR systems when it comes to EHR.

Many organizations use a locally hosted EHR, which means that all data is stored on the servers. When hard drives in servers need to be replaced or upgraded, they must be appropriately disposed of. Because many people are unaware that others can recover data on hard drives, properly disposing of them is an essential and often overlooked aspect of HIPAA compliance.

Paper Shredding for HIPAA Compliance

Of course, the more common problem is that, although many medical offices use EHR, they still have a significant amount of paperwork to deal with regularly.

Consider that much of healthcare and insurance is geared toward the elderly, who are far less likely to fill out applications or complete any processes online. As a result, there is still a need for paper to be available so that those who are not computer smart can care for their needs.

The Bottom-line

Even after digitally archiving documents regularly, there is still a lot of paperwork, so many documents must be shredded. While it frees up office space, it also ensures that your patients' and customers' privacy is protected in a HIPAA-compliance manner. 

At I-Shred, security and efficiency are a priority. I-Shred offers stress-free onsite shredding to save time and ensure your documents are destroyed properly. Which is why we offer recurring service to small businesses. We are dedicated to helping you save time and money when it comes to secure document destruction. Contact us today!