When it comes to handling an individual’s medical information, organizations must comply with HIPAA regulations. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act mandates any entity that handles medical data to keep this information confidential and secure in order to protect the privacy of patients. This is particularly important when medical data needs to be shared among entities and individuals during patient care. Those who need to send or receive information might include healthcare providers, insurance companies, doctors, and patients. Sharing medical information by regular email is not secure unless a proprietary secure email system is used. When sending information electronically, many organization turn to HIPAA fax services.
There are many online fax services available that might be appropriate for regular business transmission of documents. However, transmitting medical data requires something more. A fax service that provides HIPAA compliant transmission is in a class of its own. There are a number of criteria that the fax service must meet to ensure that it complies with HIPAA regulations.
One criteria is that the service must encrypt the data when it is transmitted. This ensures that no information that can identify the patient will be compromised. There should also be a level of user authentication so the sender can control the recipient’s access to the data.
There should be a tracking system in place to monitor the transmission of the medical information during transit. One common concern is what if medical data was sent, but the intended recipient never received it? The fax service should have an audit control system in place so that when the data is in transit from one fax server to another, the path of transmission can be traced.
Another criteria is that once the medical data is delivered to the recipient successfully, it should be removed from the fax server automatically. This will ensure that only those who are authorized to store or view the information will have access to it. Any employees of the fax service will not have access to it.
Cyber crimes are at an all time high. Security breaches usually occur when safeguards are not in place. At the same time, it is not unusual for patient care to involve a team of medical specialists who are from different geographic areas. It is imperative for the healthcare providers to use a HIPAA-compliant method when sharing information with their medical colleagues to minimize the possibility of security breaches. An organization who is found to not use secure transmission methods can be subject to a hefty fine. Not only that, but it will tarnish the reputation of the organization. Patients will lose faith and trust because the organization could not protect their privacy.
That is why reputable HIPAA fax services take security very seriously. They know that when they are entrusted with the secure transmission of patients’ private information, they are obligated to do whatever they can to ensure the security of the delivery. Any organization that needs to fax medical information should turn to a HIPAA-compliant fax service to fill their needs.
