Medical Records Shredding that’s HIPAA Compliant

Time Shred makes it easy for you to be HIPAA compliant and protect the health information of your patients with our onsite shredding of medical records that is available six days a week. We are the trusted Business Associate for many healthcare providers and institutions. Give us a call today to start shredding right away.

Schedule Your Medical Records Destruction Appointment

Juggling providing healthcare to your patients and managing the operation of your medical office can be difficult so any help you can get is to your advantage. We are here to help you with the secure disposal of protected health information. Just give us a call to speak with one of our HIPPA shredding experts and they will be able to provide you with an immediate quote whether you need a one-time purge of health files or an ongoing program in your medical office form HIPPA compliant shredding. They will also be able to get your service date scheduled right away for the day that is best for you Monday through Saturday so it does not interfere with your patient calendar.

One-Time Shredding & Purges of Protected Health Information (PHI)

When medical files have passed their required retention our one-time or purge service is a convenient way for you to dispose of those records in a compliant manner and make more room for active charts. Our one-time service is available as little or as frequently as you need it. We can come to your medical office and help make room for active charts on shelves or reduce the boxes of patient records you are storing at a facility offsite.

Ongoing or Scheduled HIPAA Document Destruction

Your medical staff is assisting patients and taking care of the day to day operation of your practice so adding another responsibility could be difficult. We’ll make the proper disposal of PHI as easy as throwing away a piece of paper. We supply your office with our locked containers. They come in many sizes so we have bins, consoles, or slimline containers that will fit in any office with limited space. Then all your staff has to do is discard all papers in our locked containers. We will arrive at your location on a regular schedule to remove the documents, shred them and we’ll be back on your next service date. We offer recurring schedules that can be daily to monthly. Custom schedules are also available.

HIPAA Medical Records Retention Requirements

HIPAA requires a covered entity to retain the required PHI documentation for six years from the date of its creation or the date when it was last in effect, whichever is later. Make sure you also check your State’s medical records retention requirements.

When Can I Shred Medical Records in New York State

The NYS Department of Health requires medical doctors to retain records for any adult patients for 6 years. Minor patients are kept for 6 years and until one year after the minor reaches the age of 18 whichever is longer. For Hospitals, medical records must be kept for six years from the date of discharge. Medical records for minors are kept 6 years from the date of discharge or 3 years after the patient reaches 18 years whichever is longer. Protected health information for deceased patients must be kept for 6 years after death.

When Can I Destroy Medical Record in New Jersey

Health care professionals (such as doctors) in New Jersey must keep medical records at least 7 years from the last time they enter information in your medical record. For hospitals, they must keep medical records for adult patients for 10 years following the most recent discharge. For minor patients, PHI needs to be kept for 10 years following the most recent discharge or until the patient is 23 years of age whichever is longer.

This is When You Can Shred Medical Records in Connecticut

In Connecticut, medical Doctors are required to keep patient’s files 7 years from the last date of treatment or upon the death of the patient for 3 years. Hospitals in Connecticut must maintain protected health information for 10 years after the patient has been discharged. Connecticut makes no distinction for minor patients.

Your Staff Must Be Trained on the Importance of Shredding

Covered entities must ensure that their workforce members receive training on and follow the disposal policies and procedures of the covered entity. That means any workforce member involved in disposing of PHI, or who supervises others who dispose of PHI, must receive training on secure disposal. This includes any volunteers. That training must be documented and acknowledged by the workforce member.

HIPAA Proper Disposal Methods

The HIPPA rule states that for Protected Health Information (PHI) in paper records, shredding, burning, pulping, or pulverizing the medical records so that PHI is rendered essentially unreadable, indecipherable, and otherwise cannot be reconstructed is acceptable. Time’s on-site shredding service is your most convenient option.

Give Time Shred a call today so we can help you with the HIPAA Compliant shredding of medical records.