By Aris Medical Solutions
Since most medical practices are going electronic, it may be time to free up some of that precious space in your office. Make sure when, how, and where you decided to store your data is secure.
Some practices move excess patient charts to a self storage unit. It’s cheap and if you have an patient chart inventory list you should be safe… right?
What happens if the facility burns down?
What if someone breaks in and it is not discovered for months?
What if you don’t have an inventory list of which records are in there?
- Did you know that PHI is considered PHI until after a person has been deceased for 50 years! That means even if the person isn’t alive, it is still a reportable breach!
- Did you know that if you can’t determine if ANY records or WHICH records were stolen, you would have to report all of them.
Self storage units may sound like a good deal. That good deal could cost you more in the end. If the unit burns or if it is vandalized, you could be charged for wilful neglect for NOT securing the records. Not to mention, you may be required to report this as a data breach and cost you nearly $350.00 per record! Are you willing to accept that risk? After all, the OCR doesn’t specifically state what is or is not HIPAA compliant. If you suffer a data breach, THEN they will determine if you had reasonable and appropriate safeguards in place.
Now I will ask you.. Wouldn’t it make sense to spend about the same amount of money and have a professional company store your records? That’s right; for about $50.00 per month you can store approximately 100 boxes of records! Of course pricing will depends on your location and how many you need to store. When organizing the records, we suggest by year and alphabetize them. This makes it much easier when the time comes to destroy them!
If you need assistance with a Risk Analysis, Risk Management Plan, or implementing a full set of HIPAA Policies and Procedures, call Aris at 877.659.2467 or click here to schedule a demo. We offer a full range of services from a Do-It-Yourself HIPAA program to a Full HIPAA Implementation package.
“Protecting Organizations through Partnership, Education, and Support”