The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulates the storage and transmission of all medical records of patients. All covered entities will need to follow all the rules and regulations of HIPAA. The various medical records that need to be safeguarded include treatment plans, lab reports, x-rays and any other information that of patients that are sensitive.

All these medical records can be electronically transmitted for treatment purposes or for storage. All safeguards need to be followed while transmitting such information. Even X-rays can be sent by emails. It is perfectly legal to transmit X-rays electronically using emails as per the statutes of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Top 5 Safeguards To Be Followed For Transmitting X-Rays Electronically

1. The X-rays that are to be transmitted electronically will need to be encrypted first before they are sent. The covered entities should always use a secure portal for sending these emails. The current Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations stipulate that when these medical records are sent through emails they will need to be authorized.

2. If the patient authorizes the sending of x-rays through email then it can be sent even through unsecured portals or unencrypted.

3. When the protected information is sent as encrypted there are usually two types of encryptions that can be done. The encryption methods can be classified as PGP and S/MIME and depending on the documents that need to be encrypted; you can choose the method that best suits your requirements. If you are looking at a cost effective option you can choose PGP as it is free whereas S/MIME will cost you money for encryption.

4. If the HIPAA standards are not met while sending x-rays through emails it will attract a penalty. The most common violations that occur when sending these x-rays is that they could be send to a wrong email id.

Apart from this they can also be unencrypted or sent from unsecure portals and this would mean that even people who are unauthorized to view it will have access to it.

5. The penalties can be as high as $50,000 depending on the nature and extent of the violation. If the x-ray is intentionally sent to a wrong email or unauthorized person, it can also result in loss of business for the covered entities. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations for noncompliance are very stringent and this helps prevent abuse.

It is also important to remember that you should never mention the name of the patient in the subject line while sending emails. The subject line should not be very specific and can be totally generic. This will help in keeping the patient information confidential even if an unauthorized person views it.

It can also be password protected to ensure further compliance of HIPAA. Awareness about the password should be available only to individuals who are authorized to open the email. This will ensure that even if the mail had been sent to an unauthorized person, it cannot be opened.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Training website.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Training website http://www.hipaaexams.com/hipaa-training.html

Author Bio: For more information, please visit our HIPAA Training website.

Category: Medical Business
Keywords: health care organizations ,HIPAA,Health Insurance ,HIPAA Compliant