Internet Fax and Maintaining Your HIPAA Compliance
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) created stiff requirements for the security of medical and personal information of patients. All individuals who handle privileged medical information not only face the threat of strict fines if they are found in noncompliance with HIPAA, but they also risk the financial liability associated with lost, stolen, and misplaced medical records. The safety and security of all medical records is a large part of HIPAA legislation, but is also an important instrument in managing financial liability by preventing legal action associated with the mishandling of private medical information. An Internet fax provides a method of complying with HIPAA regulations and can help protect the security of medical records.
Internet fax can provide several measures of security that fully comply with HIPAA and can meet all four security requirements associated with its standards. Make sure the provider you choose has taken the steps to help ensure your HIPAA compliance.
The first section of HIPAA, administrative procedures, creates specific requirements that all medical information handling must follow. HIPAA requires that records of all communication between patients and medical staff must be made, saved and remain in a way that it is accessible in the event of legal inquiries where the information becomes relevant. An Internet fax allows access to records of all fax communication, and allows you to digitally catalog information for the purpose of future review. When looking for a provider, ensure that they have policies in place to maintain all customer information and correspondence to stay in compliance with legal regulation and facilitate any possible and necessary legal investigation.
HIPAA also calls for physical safe guards for medical information regardless of format, media, or location. An Internet fax system provider should use industry standard fire systems to prevent loss of information due to fire and smoke damage. They should also have offsite backups to ensure complete duplicity and fidelity of information. To protect medical information from theft and physical damage, your Internet fax system should also provide security to prevent unauthorized access. Using standard industry protocol, providers can meet HIPAA’s requirement for physical safe guards.
In section 164.312(e)(1) of HIPAA transmission, more security regulations are put in place. A quality Internet fax provider will have taken steps to meet the integrity control and encryption requirements set by HIPAA to protect data transmission security. These levels of security should be uniformly applied to all means of accessing the system.
Access to an Internet fax system by phone should be specifically limited by the use of a pin to create an added layer of security. Email delivery of voicemails and faxes sent over the Internet should be protected by password encryption to ensure security that fully complies with HIPAA regulations. Internet access to faxes should be controlled by passwords and encryption and rely on industry standard security protocols as well as security certificates to verify and ensure authenticity.
Being HIPAA compliant requires that a system provides certain technical security services to protect information fidelity and safety. The Internet fax system should have RAID-5 to protect loss of data to the failure of storage media. Battery backup should be present for the servers of an Internet fax and help to meet the standards which require data loss prevention measures to protect against power failure. As per HIPAA, the security of each server should be maintained and ensured to prevent any unauthorized access to data.
Internet fax systems provide doctors and medical facilities with the tools necessary to meet and exceed HIPAA standards, protecting privileged medical information and records. They provide a secure system to store and transmit personal health information. HIPAA regulations do stipulate that it is the responsibility of medical professionals to verify the security of all data and record management systems used, making it important to review all options for safety and security of data. However, some Internet fax providers have also taken steps to ensure the quality of the security of their systems so that they can assist those customers that fall under HIPAA in maintaining compliance.
About the author
Brandi Cummings is an expert in the field of virtual telecommunications. For your own 15 Day Free Trial of Internet Fax, she recommends http://www.Fax800.com, a leading provider of Internet fax technology for small businesses.Tags: e fax, HIPAA compliance, internet fax, patient information, virtual fax