With the number of companies advertising services to shred or destroy sensitive information, selecting the right company can save you money, time, and most importantly that the information you hand over is handle securely before destroying. As a retiring physician, the last thing on your mind is to have a company mishandle your patient health information. Not all company who advertise their services will adhere to the strict guidelines and ethics of destroying patient health information. It is not a surprise that when patient information is improperly handled, this can lead to data breach. Considering that many medical practices are moving towards electronic medical records, a trail of paperwork still remains a significant part of any medical practice. It is important that you have experts who specialize in destroying medical data.

It is important to choose the right company and service use for destroying sensitive patient health information. When considering a document destruction company, you should consider asking these questions:

1. What are your shredding options?
   The reason for asking this question is that not every document shredding company will offer a single service that will meet the requirements to destroy patient health information.
2. Knowledge of data security compliance of patient health information.
   A company who is knowledgeable in handling patient health information will understand the laws that pertains to medical industry and best practice. In this case, the company should understand and implement HIPPA compliant procedures when destroying patient health information.
3. Handle your patient’s medical data securely
   A shredding company should provide a means to secure the data in place prior to destroying the documents. The documents should never be stored in unsecured bins. Unsecured documents can easily be accessed by unauthorized persons.
4. Chain of custody and certificate of destruction.
   Once the document is handed over to the company, the documents should be destroyed in a secure area. After document destruction, you should receive documentation as proof that your documents were destroyed.

Asking these simple questions can help you decide if a document shredding company will handle your documents properly. To assure you that your patients health information is handle properly, My Retired Doctor offers a comprehensive shredding service that is HIPPA compliance. For more information, call us at 877-328-2343 to discuss how we can help you retire your clinic with a piece of mind that your patient’s health information is handle with care.