FabSoft HealthcarePatient information security has become a huge issue since the signing of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). To protect the confidentiality of a patient’s medical records, protocols must be in place to prevent loss or unauthorized sharing of sensitive medical information.

Here are the three areas of focus a healthcare organization should consider when looking for a HIPAA-compliant document management system.

Access Control

Document management systems are typically known to prevent unauthorized access with stringent password protection and file encryption. Every medical professional or worker will be designated a role, and each role will have access to documents based on their level of authority, as well as their specific task load within a set timeframe. Thus, an office worker can have access to a certain file for only a limited amount of time as needed to perform his or her duties until they are completed, whereupon the worker will be locked out once again.

The level of access can even be restricted to certain components of the document, such as disguising the name on certain files, or disallowing access to billing information. These access rights can be modified at any time as a patient’s care progresses. Other security adjustments made simpler through a document management system are making periodic password changes or enabling auto logout after a period of inactivity.

Version Tracking

Along with restricted access, document management systems also keep tabs on who has accessed files, printed them or made any changes. Not only does this feature protect version histories from getting unorganized, it also creates a clear timestamp and username attached to any instance of access.

In the event of an audit, meant to examine the way an office or department engages in medical record-keeping, an auditor can review all the necessary files from one central location. If any discrepancies are discovered upon review of a file, the organization can verify the time of the mistake and the user responsible for it. Rather than trying to discover who should be held liable, the information provided by the access history will quickly determine who is accountable. Now, those employees who are not performing the appropriate HIPAA protocols can be identified, re-trained, and therefore better prepared for future compliance scenarios. Also, by keeping a document management system in one central location, auditors can perform their tasks quickly and independently without disrupting an organization’s flow of work.

https://industryanalysts.com/4516_fabsoft/

Disaster Recovery

HIPAA demands that in addition to keeping patient records confidential, it is also vital to maintain the security of the physical and electronic copies of these records. Without the proper IT infrastructure in place, medical organizations could suffer catastrophic losses of patient data from unforeseen threats such as natural disasters or data breaches.

From a natural disaster point of view, patient records must be backed up in a document management system as a first course of action. All the servers housing a document management system are kept under strict environmental conditions with backup power generation and fire suppression systems in the event of an emergency. All data files will also have their own offsite backup for further redundancy to prevent any sort of data loss.

Since medical records contain nearly all of the patient’s sensitive data including date of birth, contact address and social security numbers, the threat of identity theft is a serious concern. With a quality document management system, sensitive data is protected through a series of encryptions and access is consistently being monitored, authorized or not. Additionally, these data centers have controlled physical access, and 24-hour video surveillance to protect them from potential intrusions.


By setting up a dedicated document management system, healthcare organizations can comply with HIPAA regulations far more easily, and even improve their own internal response rates as far as information exchange goes.

Given the high amount of physical documentation flowing through a medical office or department, a document management system should be coupled with an effective document capture and routing solution, so physical files can be quickly converted into electronic format, and accurately stored away—all in one seamless process.

About FabSoft:

We are a software engineering company specialized in the automation of document-driven workflows for companies of all sizes. With over two decades of experience and 25,000 successful installations and counting, FabSoft products have been implemented into the daily operations of various businesses throughout the world. Want to know more? Visit our homepage and browse through our entire technology platform.