Keeping patient information private is paramount for compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Still, federal and state laws require health providers to destroy medical records periodically. When it’s time to get rid of this sensitive data, how can you do so without violating these policies?
Though the HIPAA Security Rule does not specify which hard drive destruction method organizations should use, understanding the fundamental compliance requirements can keep your facility running smoothly.
What Is the HIPAA Security Rule?
Before most health organizations adopted digital charting solutions, they recorded all protected health information on paper. That’s what the original HIPAA provisions covered. However, the widespread adoption of digital record-keeping technology throughout the industry changed everything.
The HIPAA Security Rule specifically details how organizations should handle electronic protected health information. It requires health providers — and all relevant business associates — to have policies for retaining and disposing of these records.
This Rule ensures health care organizations respect patients’ medical records and personally identifiable information, maintaining the confidentiality and trust needed to deliver top-quality care.
What Are the Disposal Requirements for HIPAA Compliance?
HIPAA does not specify how long organizations should keep patient health information. Instead, the required retention period differs from state to state. For example, in Pennsylvania, providers must retain an adult patient’s medical records for seven years after their last service. Providers must keep a minor’s medical records for that time or two years after the patient’s 18th birthday, depending on which one is longer.
After the retention period ends, health providers must dispose of old patient information using data destruction methods that comply with HIPAA’s Security Rule.
- Clearing: You can clear the drive of ePHI with a combination of software and hardware to overwrite sensitive data with non-sensitive data.
- Purging: Also known as degaussing, purging involves exposing the drive to a powerful magnetic force to disrupt the drive’s read/write mechanisms. Most modern computers use solid-state drives, making this method less common.
- Destruction: The most secure, efficient data disposal methods involve shredding, disintegrating or pulverizing storage media so that the data is no longer readable.
To maximize your organization’s security protections, it’s best to dispose of storage media on-site rather than outsourcing it to third parties. On-site destruction gives you complete control over your data, so you can monitor the process and ensure everything gets thoroughly destroyed.
Why Is Adhering to These Requirements Necessary?
As a medical or IT professional, you know keeping patient health records private is crucial for providing the best possible care.
But what about destroying those records? Here’s why you must adhere to HIPAA data destruction requirements.
- Keeping patients safe: HIPAA-compliant hard drive destruction protects patient information by making it irretrievable.
- Saving penalty costs: You can avoid penalties for HIPAA data disposal violations, which cost more as they escalate.
- Protecting your reputation: Failure to properly dispose of media storing ePHI can cause patients to lose trust in your organization, potentially driving them to seek care elsewhere or impacting their relationships with their providers.
- Reducing cyber risks: By securely disposing of ePHI, you can reduce your organization’s risk of losing sensitive data to potential attackers, including internal actors.
How Can You Ensure Your Organization Is in Compliance?
Complying with HIPAA hard drive destruction requirements keeps you prepared for inspections and maintains up-to-date security standards.
Here are some steps you can take to improve your organization’s compliance.
- Conduct regular audits: Perform routine internal audits to ensure your staff stores and organizes data according to HIPAA requirements. Pay attention to when and how employees dispose of data.
- Provide training: Employees who regularly access and edit ePHI need regular training to refresh their knowledge of HIPAA standards and best practices. Make sure they understand why they must destroy media instead of deleting it.
- Create binding business associate agreements: If you work with any third-party tech vendors that might handle sensitive patient data, a signed business associate agreement can hold them accountable for adhering to HIPAA’s data privacy rules.
- Enforce a privacy policy: A comprehensive privacy policy can establish a robust foundation for excellent care by setting consistent expectations between providers and patients. It can also guide your IT team in determining who may access and dispose of specific records.
- Appoint an in-house HIPAA compliance officer: This person will be your team’s go-to for information about becoming and remaining compliant, which will be critical for guiding your organization forward.
How Can Phiston Technologies Help?
Phiston specializes in developing user-friendly, efficient media destruction machinery for organizations across virtually all industries, from data centers to doctors’ offices.
Here are some of our solutions that are suitable for health facilities.
- A2: The phased shredding and separation process of the MediaDice® All Media Disintegrator (MD-HTP-A2) enables you to easily separate metallic e-waste. Reduce your organization’s environmental footprint without compromising HIPAA compliance.
- A10: The MediaDice® All Media Disintegrator (MD-HTP-A10) can disintegrate various storage media, including HDDs, SSDs, laptops and cellphones, to pieces as small as 10mm by 10mm. It also features the highest throughput of any competing sanitizer on the market today.
- MDS-2C: If your organization primarily uses solid-state drives or other small media storage devices like USB flash drives and CDs, the MediaDice® SSD Disintegrator-2C is your best match. It offers convenient, hands-free operation and high throughput for easy, efficient shredding.
- Combo Disintegrator: The MediaDice® Combo Disintegrator can shred large volumes of media in record time, making it an efficient and cost-effective choice for large health networks that need to dispose of multiple records simultaneously.
Invest in Effective Data Destruction Compliance
Trust Phiston if you’re looking for a media shredding machine to improve your HIPAA compliance. Our devices lead the industry in security and efficiency. Plus, we offer ongoing support for all our products to maximize your investment.
Do you want to learn more about how our media shredding solutions can help your organization reduce your noncompliance risks? Contact our team today to get started.
