How do Medical Records end up on the ROAD?
Hundreds of documents that came from a drug testing company containing PHI (Personal Health Information) ended up on the side of the road. Reporters are investigating how this drug testing company could have allowed documents containing peoples’ social security numbers, birth dates, and more to end up on the side of the road in plastic bags.
Allegedly the Attorney General’s office is now investigating this as a violation of the regulations set forth by HIPPA and other Identity Theft Protection Acts.
Not only is it important to use a certified, qualified vendor for your document destruction needs but it is also important to make sure your documents are destroyed on-site. Many shredding companies transport materials for off site destruction which exposes your sensitive information to incidents similar to this.
It is not imperative that your organization have a Scheduled Route Service in place; however, if you do not set up a document retention and destruction policy your workers will end up over whelmed and not give document disposal the attention it deserves.
