The regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) apply to all healthcare practitioners in the United States, including dental practices. But while digital protections for protected health information (PHI) often take the spotlight, it's important not to forget that HIPAA also mandates the implementation of physical data security measures. Failing to implement these required safeguards will incur steep penalties and fines, so your dental practice must take them seriously to avoid financial and legal trouble.
HIPAA-mandated physical safeguards
Under the HIPAA Security Rule, dental offices must implement specific physical safeguards to protect PHI. These include:
Facility access controls
HIPAA requires you to implement measures to prevent people outside of your organization from accessing your computer systems and data storage devices. Someone waltzing into your office and downloading PHI onto a memory stick is just as bad, if not worse, than a cybercriminal hacking into your systems.
Therefore, you must ensure that access to your physical location, such as your brick-and-mortar dentist practice, is restricted to authorized personnel. Consider using locks and biometrics-enabled access controls, such as face scans or fingerprints, and make sure you have a surveillance system in place to monitor who comes and goes into your clinic.
Workstation and computer controls
In addition to securing your servers and data storage devices, you must also ensure that individual workstations are secure and inaccessible to unauthorized individuals. This means restricting access to all areas wherever PHI is stored and handled, including places that have:
- Desktop computers
- Laptop computers
- Mobile devices
- Printers
- Copiers
To further strengthen your practice’s physical security, password-protect all your devices and always lock them when not in use.
Data storage and disposal
Even after patient data is no longer needed or has passed the HIPAA-required retention period, it's still important to protect the devices that store it. When disposing of these devices, data should be completely destroyed and unrecoverable. To guarantee this outcome, consider working with an e-waste or data disposal service provider that specializes in HIPAA-compliant data destruction.
Contingency planning
To prove that you can respond effectively to a crisis and keep PHI protected, HIPAA requires the establishment of a contingency plan to maintain business continuity in the event of a disaster or system failure. This plan should include measures to prevent data loss and ensure a quick recovery of systems and information, such as cloud-based, geo-redundant data backups. This ensures that your dental records and patient information are always safe and accessible, even in the face of unexpected disruptions.
Validation procedures
Physical security measures require ongoing attention. Don't assume that once they're in place, they'll always work. You need to regularly check that your physical access controls are functioning properly and that no vulnerabilities exist that could allow unauthorized access.
Don't rely solely on technology for security either. While technology can streamline security management, manual inspections are crucial for ensuring your dental practice's physical security. You or a trusted security partner should routinely inspect your facility’s premises; this old-fashioned method can uncover risks that automated systems might miss.
Ensure easy compliance with Healthy IT’s professional HIPAA consulting for dental practices
HIPAA is a complex set of regulations with many and varied components, and it can be difficult for dental practices to get a complete grasp of it while also looking after their patients and running their businesses. If you want to ensure that your practice is fully HIPAA-compliant with minimal risk of penalties, contact Healthy IT.
We’ve been in the healthcare IT business for over 25 years and know these regulations inside out. We’ll make sure your dental practice can easily and quickly achieve and maintain HIPAA compliance. Call our office at 631-857-4964 or click here to book your FREE Security Risk Assessment now.