The major objective of HIPAA is that health organizations have the infrastructure that allows them to safeguard patient health information from unauthorized parties.
The security provisions of HIPAA need reasonable efforts to make sure that the information delivery via fax online has been sent received securely.
HIPAA makes a number of demands to ensure that patient health information is secured. These include:
- All fax machines are to be placed in a secure area.
- Only authorized personnel can access the machines.
- Destination numbers are verified before transmission.
- Recipients will get the notification that they have been sent a fax.
- Include a cover-sheet highlighting that the fax includes confidential health information.
- All the patient’s data must be in the fax body.
- Confirm fax delivery by calling the recipient.
- Received faxes should be stored in a secure location.
- Maintain transmission and transaction log summaries.
There are a number of risks involved in manual faxing. Some are highlighted as follows:
- Incoming faxes need to be removed immediately from the output tray and distributed to the recipient to reduce the chance of an inappropriate use or disclosure.
- Any pre-programmed fax numbers need to be validated regularly and fax recipients must be contacted regularly to ensure that the number has not changed.
- The destination fax machine may be in a safe location but may still be accessible to a number of people.
- The information in hard copy must be filled securely.
Online fax service includes several of the provisions required by HIPAA for secure faxing. Faxes are stored in your secure online account. Several online providers maintain transaction logs and there are no fax machines to move into secure areas.