Keeping Compliant & Secure

The COVID-19 crisis has changed the way many of us work—forcing companies to close their workplaces and adapt to working from home arrangements. But the requirements for document retention and destruction mandated by official federal and government agencies is still a concern. It’s imperative that if your organization is required to be compliant with HIPAA or FACTA, you ensure that you continue to adhere to guidelines even while your staff is working offsite.

Follow Current Regulations for Retention & Destruction

According to HIPAA, if your organization retains medical records for patients, you are required to keep them for five years after the last patient contact. HIPAA also stipulates that after the required time period has elapsed, patient records must be destroyed securely to ensure privacy is protected. While offsite, it’s easy for breaches to occur, since staff may not all be working at the same time or in the same place. To ensure that you are protecting your patient’s or your client’s confidential information, be sure to follow all compliance guidelines for document storage and destruction. 

Limit Access

If your company is still closed due to the pandemic or if you have begun a phased reopening, it’s important to ensure that access to confidential records and information is limited. Be sure that records are stored in a locked cabinet or room. It is all too easy during these uncertain times for sensitive documents or hard drives to be breached. 

Arrange for Shredding & Destruction Offsite

If you’re not already working with a mobile shredding and destruction provider, now would be an ideal time to do so. Some mobile shredding companies that perform onsite shredding are offering the option for touchless drop off services whereby you can bring your boxes of documents and hard drives to the facility for destruction. Or, you could arrange for their shredding trucks to come to your residence. Once your shredding is complete, it’s crucial to obtain a certificate of destruction for your records, to ensure that you have documentation for compliance purposes.

Now is not the time to allow your security protocols to become laxer, in fact, it’s a good time to tighten up your processes to protect your organization, your clients and your staff.

All Points Mobile Shredding is an essential business located in Stuart, Florida. We are working with all of our clients to continue providing secure shredding and destruction and to help guard them against corporate ID theft and data breaches. Give us a call today or fill out this form find out how we can serve you.