What is HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 specifies a series of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to assure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of protected health information.  Individuals, organizations and agencies that meet the definition of a covered entity must comply with the Rules specified to protect the privacy and security of patient health information.  Providers such as doctors, clinics, psychologists, dentists, chiropractors, nursing homes and pharmacies are considered a “covered entity” and are required by law to follow the rules of HIPAA.  Any breach of confidentiality such as improperly discarded documents, must be reported to the authorities, and in cases involving over 500 records, to local media as well. 

Under HIPAA law, every healthcare provider is required to prevent unauthorized access to Protected Health Information (PHI) at all times.  PHI consists of any information about patients including diagnosis, treatment, x-rays, prescription, billing, address, and virtually anything else pertaining to a patient and/or case.

No healthcare organization is too small for outsourced shredding services.

Small or large, medical organizations benefit greatly from the protection, regulation compliance and indemnification offered by InfoShield Security services.   Employees are busy at their jobs and often overlook the importance of taking the time to shred proprietary data.  A discarded document in the trash could lead to heavy regulatory fines, lawsuits and loss of community trust.