hipaa compliant personal backup solutions

Start to develop your retention policy by checking the state and federal regulations that may apply to your practice. The easiest answer is to retain records for as long as the strictest rule applies. And different patients will fall under different guidelines-namely, you’ll probably want to retain records longer for minors. Each state has different rules and statute limitations. Unfortunately, there’s no standard timeline, and there are a lot of factors to consider. One of the first pieces of the puzzle to understand when planning your data backup strategy is how long you’ll need to keep medical records and the regulatory requirements that govern retention. How Long Should a Medical Office Keep Records? In this guide for backing up medical offices, learn more about: Whether you outsource some of your IT tasks, like backups, to a managed service provider (MSP) or you manage everything in house with network attached storage (NAS) or other hardware, understanding backup best practices and the different cloud options available can help you make the best decisions to protect your important data. Medical offices manage high volumes of personally identifiable information like social security numbers and patient data, and, as IT managers of medical offices can probably attest, they may not have the resources to afford dedicated cybersecurity staff, making them attractive to cybercriminals looking for vulnerable targets.īut, HIPAA requirements and cybersecurity aren’t the only reason to back up your medical practice’s data-your data is one of your most important assets and making sure it’s safe and accessible keeps your practice running smoothly. In 2020, 560 healthcare facilities were affected by ransomware according to a report by Emsisoft, a cybersecurity firm. Since offices started shifting to electronic health records, managing IT systems for medical practices has presented a unique set of challenges-the amount of data you have to manage has grown, data is subject to HIPAA regulations, and recently, your data became even more of a target for cybercriminals as they zeroed in on health facilities over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of a medical office’s IT systems, including data backups, your job has never been more important.

Hipaa compliant personal backup solutions