Spectra's SOC 2 TYPE II Certified + HIPAA Compliant Printing and Mailing
One of Spectra’s services includes an all-in-one-solution with printing and direct-mailing media for our healthcare customers. We are HIPAA Compliant mailing certified. Our print management team is trained to handle direct mailing projects in a manner that stays within the guidelines of HIPAA. We preserve the confidentiality of protected health information (PHI) through every phase of printing, fulfillment, shipping, and delivery.
What is HIPAA?
Congress passed an act in 1996 to standardize the handling of an individual’s PHI. This act is what’s known as HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.) Standards are enforced under HIPAA to protect confidential data on a person through secure protocols. People now have the right to have their personal information safeguarded and protected under HIPAA. Mailings sent to a targeted audience with health-related content must comply with HIPAA. Data management of PHI must be protected and kept confidential. At Spectra, if waste comes from jams or other issues, pieces are shredded. Our facility has cameras and entry management. We also print direct mail pieces that mail to potential clinical trial volunteers.
What is HIPAA Fulfillment?
HIPAA fulfillment describes the distribution of mailers, promotional products, and other materials that fall under the jurisdiction of HIPAA’s privacy rules. A fulfillment company must be able to recognize when a given project is subject to these rules, and the entire team handling that project must be informed and equipped to comply with them completely. By choosing Spectra as your fulfillment provider for materials that relate to medical and personal information, you enjoy the assurance that your audience’s data is protected at every step of the process.
Responsibilities of HIPAA Compliant Mailing Companies
In order to be considered HIPAA compliant mailing companies must protect the medical and personal information that is included under the legislation’s guidelines. HIPAA compliant printing and mailing medical records to patient services do not display a patient’s health condition, medical equipment being used, finances, or other data that must be kept private. Some of the categories included under HIPAA protection may seem obvious, but many are not. Spectra Integration has an expert privacy officer and data manager who oversees our operations and ensures that we execute HIPAA compliant mailing services.
HIPAA compliant direct mail is a great way for hospitals, clinical trial recruiters, and other organizations in the healthcare industry to reach patients in a manner that is effective yet respects the privacy of their medical and other personal information.
Personal Data (PHI) That Falls Under HIPAA
HIPAA compliant mailings should not have the following:
- Health Conditions
- Medical Equipment
- Finances
- Address
- Health Plan
- Health Provider
- Date of Birth
- Date of Death
- Treatment-Related
- Social Security Number
- Photos
- Finger Prints
- Phone number
HIPAA Compliant Mailing Medical Records Uses
- Correspondence to HIPAA mailing medical records to patients that include invoices, statements, or letters.
- Inserts included with correspondence to a patient.
- EOBs (explanation of benefits)
- EOCs (explanation of coverage)
- Breach of security notifications
- Educational mailers on medical procedures
How Spectra Maintains HIPAA Compliance
We maintain strict adherence to HIPAA through a series of best practices and protocols to ensure every piece of a HIPAA compliant mailing is secure. Through a streamlined multiple-process model, Spectra protects the integrity of PHI in HIPAA printing and mailings while employing stringent quality control measures. We provide you an effective, secure print solution that is cost-effective, risk-reduced, and HIPAA compliant.
Our 3-Ps For HIPAA Compliance:
- Procedures: Implement SOPs, conduct HIPAA training, and enforce standards of conduct for compliance.
- Protection: Safeguard PHI with dedicated data management, privacy officers, and robust security protocols.
- Planning: Conduct audits, risk assessments, and develop proactive strategies for sustained HIPAA compliance.
Personnel who directly manage HIPAA-related materials must undergo rigorous training to adequately and safely maintain data integrity through every phase of a direct mail. Additionally, Spectra has practiced in place to monitor adherence to HIPAA protocols.
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Benefits of Partnering With a HIPAA Compliant
Violating HIPAA can result in hefty fines. You’ll have peace of mind knowing your direct mail does not compromise PHI or HIPAA compliance. Preserving and protecting personal data is something any reputable business should strive for. Leaky, insecure infrastructure easily leads to data breaches, which can result in identity theft. It’s vital that your printer is not only HIPAA compliant certified, but also has the technology in place to protect data. The repercussions of failing to have these necessary tools and strategies onboard lead to HIPAA fines and potential legal issues. You have a trusted partner with Spectra when it comes to your HIPAA compliant mailing. Give us a call today.
Frequently Asked Questions
SOC 2 stands for Service Organization Control 2 and it is an auditing procedure that measures how securely data is being managed by a provider. This compliancy standard was developed by the American Institute of CPAs. The standard is based on security, availability, processing, integrity, confidentiality and privacy. This is an important designation for HIPAA compliancy at the highest level and is very valuable for companies that take SaaS and HIPAA very seriously.
PHI stands for Protected Health Information. This includes health information in any form such as electronic records, physical records, and even spoken information! With that in mind, PHI covers basically everything including lab test results, health histories, medical bills, health records, etc. Basically all health information is considered PHI when there is an identifying component.
Everyone managing private health information is required to be HIPAA compliant. This includes professionals like doctors, hospitals, dentists, psychologists, nursing homes, pharmacies, etc, since they are all considered to be healthcare providers. Even fulfillment, printing, and mailing companies have to follow HIPAA rules since they are often involved in overseeing Protected Health Information (PHI) in their work.
According to HIPAA, all Protected Health Information (PHI) must be sent through first-class postal mail as a minimum. Additionally, it is required for recipients to sign for certified mail since it can only be delivered to the correct individual. Certified mail has the bonus ability to be tracked so that PHI is not accessed by individuals who are not authorized to open the mail.
There are four key parts of HIPAA that directly affect patients. This includes the security of health data, notifications of healthcare data breaches, the privacy of health data, and patient rights over their own healthcare data. The main part of HIPAA is to ensure that all Protected Health Information (PHI) is handled appropriately and for patients to feel empowered knowing their information is private.
The best ways for printing companies to remain HIPAA compliant is to conduct annual risk assessments, conduct frequent testings of penetration, perform vulnerability scans, ensure application security, and educate your employees about HIPAA compliance and security. Additionally, make sure you review your Business Associate Agreements (BAAs). Consider enlisting professional help to do all these things because it is quite involved.
No, it is not a HIPAA violation per se to mail medical records. It is important that everything is sent through certified and first-class mail at a minimum. Individuals will be required to sign in order to receive the mail to be sure that only the intended recipient receives the Protected Health Information (PHI). Transmitting PHI through US Mail or even delivery companies like DHL, FedEx, and UPS are permissible under these circumstances.
The answer to this is the privacy rule, the security rule, and the breach notification rule. Printing, mailing, and fulfillment companies find themselves in a unique position where they are not healthcare professionals but are still managing Protected Health Information (PHI), therefore they must still follow rules as any healthcare professional would.
Not many people have heard of this. The IT part stands for information technology. Being compliant concerns all the systems that are used to receive, transmit, store, or alter electronically protected health information (ePHI). Anything that interacts with ePHI is required to follow certain security protections in order to ensure integrity, availability, and confidentiality.
Yes, we can. The most common HIPAA violations that result in serious penalties involve companies failing to perform organization-wide risk analysis. Without doing this, there is a danger in compromising the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of protected health information (PHI). Additionally, another example is failing to enter into a HIPAA-compliant business associate agreement
It’s understandable to wonder about what is not a violation at this point. Here are a few. A business that requires you proving that you are vaccinated before you enter is not a HIPAA violation. Also, when your employer requires you to be vaccinated or show proof before being able to enter the worksite is not a HIPAA violation.
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Spectra Fulfillment Center
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