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Protecting Patient Personal Health Information

Published on 

Thursday, May 13, 2010

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The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) require covered entities, such as hospitals, and their business associates to take actions to ensure that patients’ personal health information (PHI) is protected from inappropriate disclosure.  MMP, Inc. is committed to maintaining the privacy and security of all patient health information.  We would like to remind our clients of the following:

  • PHI sent via e-mail without encryption or password protected files is at risk of discovery.  We encourage our clients not to send any PHI via regular e-mail without encryption or other means to protect the information.
  • If PHI is sent in password protected files, the password should be sent in a separate e-mail or communicated via telephone.
  • Patient information sent to MMP on CDs should be encrypted or password protected.  Passwords should be communicated in a separate correspondence.
  • MMP encourages all of our clients to provide access to patient medical records via protected electronic means whenever possible.  The preferred method is direct access through a username and password directly into the facility’s medical record database.  Information on encrypted or password protected CDs are preferred over paper records.  We discourage the submission of medical records in a paper format due to the increased risk of inappropriate disclosure.
  • Faxing PHI also poses an increased risk of inappropriate disclosure and MMP encourages our clients to use alternate, more secure delivery methods if possible.  If you must fax information containing PHI to MMP, please verify carefully that you are sending the information to the correct fax number and use a cover page that includes a confidentiality message.  You may also want to verify that the intended recipient received the fax.

If you have any suggestions or questions concerning the privacy and security of PHI communications with MMP, please contact us at info@mmplusinc.com

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This material was compiled to share information.  MMP, Inc. is not offering legal advice. Every reasonable effort has been taken to ensure the information is accurate and useful.