In USA alone, it is estimated that there are more than a billion visits to doctors’ offices, clinics and hospitals annually, resulting in multiples of medical records being created and shared, essentially requires a lots of medical records management.

Why is security important in medical records?

Medical Records may include the most personal and private information, from social security numbers to diagnoses for chronic illnesses. Should information get in the wrong hands, there’s no predicting the extent and impact of the consequences. Organizations working on Medical Records Management and Data Collection need to maintain high levels of security in order to ensure the security of client’s medical history data.

Which is the biggest source for leakage of medical records?

According to a recent white paper released by KnowBe4, email is the top attack vector into organizations and the maximum security breaches occur via email.

Email is pervasively used in almost all industry verticals and is the primary communication and awareness method within most organizations. Misuse of email can post many legal, privacy and security risks, thus it’s important for companies to understand the appropriate use of electronic communications.

How does Telegenisys deal with electronic medical records?

Telegenisys is a HIPAA Compliant Company.

HIPAA or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is an accreditation that is designed to maintain the confidentiality and security of healthcare information. Medical records under HIPAA are understood to cover any information generated by interactions with healthcare providers that are preserved in any form. This definition goes as far as to include oral accounts of physician-patient interaction.

Under the HIPAA compliance law, the following data security methods are implemented:

Employee responsibilities:

1. Employees are not permitted to store sensitive information on workstations and portable media.
2. Mobiles phones and personal external drives are not allowed on the operations floor
3. Employees may access approved information only as necessary for their authorized job responsibilities.
4. All passwords  are kept confidential.
5. Employees should report promptly to the supervisor and the Telegenisys HIPAA Privacy or Security Officer the loss or misuse of Sensitive Information.

Appropriate Disposal of Data including PHI (Protected Health Information)

1. Hard copy materials such as paper or microfiche must be properly shredded or placed in a secured bin for shredding later.
2. Magnetic media such as diskettes, tapes, or hard drives must be physically destroyed or “wiped” using approved software and procedures. Contact the Information Security Office
3. CD ROM disks must be rendered unreadable by shredding, defacing the recording surface, or breaking.
4. Sensitive information and PHI should never be placed in the regular trash!

Physical security:

1. Equipment such as PCs, servers, mainframes, fax machines, and copiers must be physically protected.
2. Computer screens, copiers, and fax machines must be placed so that they cannot be accessed or viewed by unauthorized individuals.

How does Telegenisys avoid email security breaches?

As part of the implementation of HIPAA laws, Telegenisys has an appropriate email policy in place and makes employees aware of what is an acceptable usage of the email system. This policy includes email sent from a Telegenisys address and applies to all employees, vendors, and agents operating on behalf of Telegenisys.

Major policy features are:

1. Telegenisys’ data contained within an email message or an attachment must be secured according to the Data Protection Standard.
2. Users are prohibited from automatically forwarding Telegenisys email to a third party email system.
3. Employees handling critical data are not allowed to use email or other communication methods such as messaging.

Why should you choose Telegenisys as your electronic medical records management partner?

The stakes are high when it comes to successfully complying with privacy laws. Millions of dollars in fines have been assessed to parties that have failed to protect patient data.

Telegenisys offers expertise and experience in medical records management and handles medical case data in a HIPAA compliant environment. Patients will have their information handled responsibly and clients can be ensured that every project will conducted in a professional, and accurate manner.