subject: Why You Need To Shred Hipaa Documents [print this page] If a business records retention firm is every hired by a medical company to help them handle their documentation needs, they are likely going to be hired as part of the HIPAA guidelines that the medical firm has established. HIPAA is a set of laws which applies to the health care industry. It states that all of the medical companies in the country must have a written policy which outlines how they will regularly destroy documents which contain the private information that belongs to their patients. Often, these destruction needs will be seen to by the same company that provides their filing service.
The laws of HIPAA are not in themselves a set of guidelines which outline how an office must shred documents. Instead, these laws state that all health care facilities need to have these kinds of guidelines of their own. HIPAA requires that medical facilities have, in writing, a shredding policy that dictates how they will use paper shredding to protect the privacy of their patients by shredding anything which contains information that is considered to be the property of the patient.
Almost every type of document which a health care facility might have to obtain at some point can be classified as falling under HIPAA. The types of information which it protects are quite wide and varied. For instance, billing information, and documents with contact information of patients on them are covered. Anything which includes information about the insurance carrier and/or policy of the patient is going to be included. Finally, actual medical documents such as test and lab results, x-rays, doctors' notes and more are also included under the law.
A mistake is to assume that HIPAA only applies to hospitals. It actually applies to almost every type of office that could be considered to be a part of the medical industry, no matter how fringe. Private clinics and doctors' offices are certainly included. So are specialty doctors like dentists and eye doctors. Also, all types of physical therapists, psychologists, chiropractors, massage therapists, and walk in clinics are all included. If when you visit an office you consider yourself a patient instead of a customer, HIPAA probably applies.
Failure to comply with HIPAA can result in large problems for anyone working within this industry. If you want to know that your privacy is being protected you should be able to see the written shredding guidelines the company has in place at any time.
