HIPAA and Data Security
Working with HIPAA and Securing Your Records
The federal government created HIPAA and its rules and regulations to make health access easier and more protected. It is up to your covered entity to implement and stay up to date with them. Those companies need the proper equipment for these rules and regulations. We supply the devices and equipment that can help your company or office stay up today and HIPAA compliant.
What is HIPAA?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is a piece of federal legislation designed to protect the health insurance coverage of workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. HIPAA’s Title II also establishes safeguards and national standards for the organization, protection and filing of electronic health care transactions with national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans and employers.
HIPAA is big and it affects your daily life, whether you know about it or not. In this article we want to focus on the Security Rule. This rule was added to HIPAA in 2003 and national compliance was required by 2005. It adds to the previously established Privacy Rule. These two rules lay out the protection that your paper and electronic health records receive. These records need to be protected; health care fraud is a serious issue for both the companies and the individual. To combat these threats, covered entities have divided their security concerns into three areas; administrative safeguards, physical safeguards and technical safeguards. Administrative safeguards are about policies and setting rules in your company for handling data safely; by setting procedures in place and establishing contingency plans for different situations. Physical safeguards are about protecting the records themselves or the devices, security safes and vault rooms or storage rooms they’re held in as well as the access rules. Technical safeguards describe the computer systems and backup hard drives that covered entities use to process and maintain health records. These safeguards mean you must protect your data above all other things. You must control who has access to electronic health records and which personnel can alter or erase them and ensure their integrity.
How can you do this?
We can help you with HIPAA compliance with our numerous fire and disaster proof safe/cabinets/hard drives and office equipment. We have the tools that you and your customers need to protect their health care records.
First, let’s look at keeping that health care data on a safe server. Our ioSafe hard drives are tanks when it comes to protecting data. The ioSafe SoloPRO is perfect for your office needs; it is the fastest and most versatile hard drive built by ioSafe. It is stuffed to the gills with data protection to help you preserve, protect and recover data that may fall under HIPAA compliance. There are tons of features; here are some of the most important to be aware of. First; fire protection, the SoloPRO will protect data from temperatures of 1550 degrees for up to ½ hour (which follows the ASTM E119 standard). The opposite of fire is water and the SoloPRO covers you there as well. This hard drive can be dunked in up to 10ft of water for over 72 hours. The next feature assures business-class/multi-platform compatibility; it can be connected to a Windows server, PC, Mac or Linux which makes it ideal for any healthcare entity that needs a secure backup of patient health information and data. One the most important features is the Data Recovery Service (DRS) that every ioSafe hard drive comes with, it’s $5000 worth of forensic data recovery and replacement (1, 3 or 5 year plans are available).
Those aren’t the only features; the SoloPRO also comes with a Kensington security slot and anti-theft tab; which allows the unit to be secured to virtually any surface in your office. The SoloPRO is also available in 1-4TB capacities and has been tested to UL, FCCC and CE standards.
Don’t think that ioSafe’s quiver is empty after presenting the SoloPRO; we have many other great products that could fit perfectly in your office space. If protection and portability are twin priorities then look to the ioSafe Rugged Portable hard drive; tough like an airplane black box. It has up to 5,000 lbs of crush protection, up to 20’ of drop protection and can be immersed in up to 10’ of water for three days. It is compatible with Macs and PCs and connects with USB 2.0/3.0 and FireWire 800. If you’re looking for the strong, silent type; check out the ioSafe SOLO G3. This unit is perfect for any office because the Fanless FloSafe Vent Design which provides near-silent operation. It has the same level of fire/waterproof protection as the SoloPRO and has capabilities for 3TB or higher.
Another ioSafe option worth considering is the ioSafe N2 NAS RAID. If you want a fire/waterproof NAS/RAID storage device, then this is your machine. One of its best features is the private cloud; which has fast local access (up to 100MB/sec). With the N2 you also have access to a number of world-class apps; like the File Station, Media Server, Photo Station, Directory Server, Time Backup, VPN Server and many more. It also has hot swappable HDD with internal HDD/SDD; it’s a great option for your server needs. The N2 is a great fit for businesses that may not need a full blown server, but can benefit from redundant hard drives, accessibility from any mobile device and want to demonstrate compliance with the security and physical safeguards of HIPAA.
Looking for options to protect your paper records? We have got you covered; over at safeandvault we have an array of GSA approved safes to protect your clients and your company. We have FireKing and Sentry Safe fireproof file cabinets; our lateral fire files have a number of great selections; the FireKing models are available in 31”, 38” and 44” widths with 2-4 drawer sizes. They come in nine color selections and high-security Medeco locks. These file cabinets also carry a UL 1 hour fire rating combined with a sleek design. The Sentry models come in 30”, 36” and 40” widths and allow for both front-to-back and side-to-side filing. They have independently secure drawers with patented Insulite fire protection insulation. The Sentry models have 2-4 drawer options with six color choices and a lifetime fire replacement warranty.
An easy choice for the storage of records is the FireKing Record Storage Cabinets; they are perfect for protecting your files from disaster. They have a UL Class 350 1 hour fire rating and have wide array of standard features. Such as; high security oversized storage, adjustable shelves for customized interiors, Medeco high security locks and scratch resistant powder finish. End-tab filing is also available and you can get a three year warranty with the cabinets.
Our Vertical Fire Files are also a great option. The full-size vertical file cabinet is FireKing’s most popular model. They carry a 2 hour UL fire rating and are available with 2-4 drawers and letter or legal file sizes. You can also choose the compact FireKing Turtle cabinets which is 22” in vertical or lateral models. They are easily affordable with UL 1 hour fire rating. The Sentry 31” deep fireproof model also can be an excellent way to protect your records; it has water protection seals (it is the world’s first ETL verified fire file for water protection. It also comes with a set of standard accessories like follower blocks and hanging folders. Take a look at the vertical fire files page; there are tons of models to go over.
HIPAA compliance is what what’s best for your business and we can help you with that. Having the best equipment makes preparing for data or records loss and compliance far easier. We realize that that protecting your records isn’t just about human error and malfeasance; it’s also about natural disasters and unforeseen accidents. You can’t control the whole world but you can control how you plan in advance.