Maintaining hipaa compliance across digital paper records hipaa compliance must remain a top priority even as organizations utilize printers scanners and faxes to monitor different types of.
Hipaa storage of paper medical records.
Medical records and phi must be stored where there is controlled access we recommend that medical records and phi stored in hallways that are accessible by unauthorized individuals should be in locked cabinets.
Here is how you move forward.
Your emr may not take up the physical office space that your paper records once did but the demand for storage space for these files will only grow.
No open shelves in a patient or research subject area.
All medical records are subject to the hipaa privacy rule and the same considerations should be given to maintaining the integrity of paper medical records and preventing the unauthorized disclosure of phi.
Set up security protections against the risks discovered.
Paper records and electronic records need to be treated the same don t forget about the paper.
Assess risks to the data potential results of related attacks and how likely they are to occur.
All hipaa compliant storage should be assessed for any risks on a regular basis.
In 2012 there were more breaches involving medical records on paper covered by hipaa than electronic records 45 from mid may to mid june.
Do you manage your backups internally or is it time to consider looking outside your practice for hipaa compliant backup storage.
Hacking information doesn t just happen to digital information.
Record the security steps that are taken and why they were taken as relevant.
In order to maintain hipaa compliance with your paper record storage you need to think about physical safeguards.
What to do about electronic storage.
What are physical safeguards.
The hipaa guidelines for medical records do not exclusively apply to medical records that are created stored or transmitted electronically.