From the time a patient record has been established, healthcare workers must ensure total patient confidentiality. In fact, the healthcare industry has a legal and ethical obligation to prevent the non-disclosure of information gathered throughout the course of any relationship that’s formed with a patient. This applies to both healthcare workers such as doctors and nurses, and any administrative staff handling such private information, as well. Basically, any information that’s provided by a patient must not be shared to a third party, whether intentionally or not.
Failing to protect patient privacy can put patients and a healthcare institution at considerable risk. When medical records are mismanaged, not only are medical errors much more likely to occur, healthcare facilities could also face data breaches which can result in costly fines.
Data breaches and failure to protect patient privacy can also damage your reputation. Remember that medicine is all about trust. Patients often provide extremely sensitive information to those in the healthcare industry provided that it will only be used to help them.
Don’t risk breaking this confidentiality; ensure you have the proper records management practices in place to secure patient records at all times. If you haven’t considered off-site records storage as an effective solution in securing patient records, read on to learn why you should.
How Can Your Medical Office Benefit from Off-Site Records Storage?
- Improve productivity levels as employees aren’t spending unnecessary time storing, locating and managing files in-house
- Regain office space that was previously used to store old medical records
- Medical records remain safe and secure throughout their specified retention period
- Ensures your medical office is adhering to specific HIPAA regulations
- Optional emergency document retrieval services
Storage Tips for Medical Records
- Be sure that PII is protected and concealed whenever medical records are being transported off-site for storage. Leaked personally identifying information could lead to significant legal repercussions as well as information theft.
- Always confirm what your state regulations specify in relation to storing medical records. Retention schedules vary by state so it’s in your best interest to confirm this information for compliance purposes.
- Limit who has access to managing your medical records, whether you are storing files on-site or off-site at a records storage facility.
Medical Files to Store Off-Site at a Records Storage Facility
- Patient Files
- Laboratory Results
- Hospital Records
- Research Papers
- X-Rays
- MRIs and Cat Scans
Corrgian Record Storage Services
- 24/7 access
- Two-hour rush delivery
- Customer view room to access files
- Climate control options
Let Corrigan Record Storage keep your medical records safe in a protected and secure area. Save yourself the unnecessary stress of looking through endless medical files for a single document. Through our records storage services, you may request the documents you need at any time, and we will have them ready for you to review or retrieve! As an AAA Certified member of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), our facility undergoes several unscheduled inspections each year, ensuring compliance throughout the life of your documents.
You can trust our team to keep your highly sensitive, medical records safe for as long as you need us to!
