HIPAA Document Shredding- whats the deal?

If you generate or handle sensitive or confidential documents that could cause problems if they get into the wrong hands, you should consider either; hiring a document destruction contractor who operates within the HIPAA recommended guidelines, or, if you are large producer of "sensitive" waste, installing an approved shredder on your premises and carrying out the process yourself.

HIPAA stands for the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act" which is the act passed by congress in late 2003 and that within its remit, offers specific rules and guidelines for the safe destruction of sensitive/confidential papers.

By employing the services of a document destruction company who are HIPAA compliant, this brings a confidence and a peace of mind, not only to corporate bodies who use their services, but also to individuals too, ensuring that their confidential/sensitive waste papers and documents will not fall into the wrong hands. There are severe penalties, both civil and criminal, that can be enacted on anyone who is found to have abused or misused this process.

HIPAA approved contractors provide their clients with a secure on-site storage facility where any sensitive documents or papers can be temporarily stored to ensure that they are not tampered with in any way while waiting for destruction, thus affording their clients another comfort zone of protection.

You may be given the choice of where the actual document destruction takes place either, in situ at your workplace, or, after removal from your premises, at a remote secure facility.

It is also recommended within the HIPAA guidelines that any staff coming into contact with this sensitive material should be security checked prior to being granted access. This includes drivers who collect and transport the waste material.

To ensure that destruction is as complete as possible (prior to burning), HIPAA best practice doctrine advocates the use of cross shredders which shred the waste in two directions, making in totally impossible for anyone to reconstruct any documents.

Not only is sensitive waste totally destroyed, but the destruction process itself is to be properly audited and certificated according to HIPAA guidelines. Each time that a batch of material is collected and destroyed, a certificate is raised, recording the batch number, date, and the full details of the destruction agent, be it an outside contractor, or an internal process using own staff.

Even if your company is outside of the medical profession, say a solicitors practice, an accounting firm, a financial consultancy, or anyone with confidential design information etc, you too will benefit from adopting the HIPAA guidelines with regard to waste destruction.
It makes absolute sense to take the right measures to ensure the safe destruction of confidential information, so avoiding any law suites or damages that might otherwise occur because of the lack of appropriate security.

By following the HIPAA guidelines, you are automatically putting best practice into action.

Both your company and your clients can then be assured that you are acting in their best interests.