HIPAA Compliant Printing and Mailing Services
Spectra is the service provider of choice for organizations that need to print and mail correspondence involving patient health information (PHI). Our print and distribution department is 100% HIPAA compliant, with protocols in place to keep databases and address lists secure during every project our team handles.
The printing and mailing experience represented on the Spectra team is a powerful asset for any company or nonprofit organization that needs to reach patients with high quality printed materials in a process that keeps their information protected.
HIPAA Compliance Explained
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 created federal regulations for how patients’ private information can be collected, transferred, stored, and otherwise used. The aim of the law was to ensure that organizations, primarily hospitals, medical practices, insurance providers, and financial services, would keep such information private while they used it to communicate with patients.
Since HIPAA became the nationwide set of standards for handling PHI, the rise of digital communications has added a great deal of complexity to the safeguards that organizations must put in place while they use databases of protected types of information. While physical printed address lists used to be the standard, today such lists are primarily shared digitally, creating new risks of exposure. Networks, servers, and computers that are protected by outdated firewalls or malware detection software are vulnerable to hacking.
HIPAA Compliant Printing
As a HIPAA compliant facility, Spectra is a qualified service provider for clients such as hospitals, who need to print documents that include confidential PHI. The HIPAA guidelines apply not only to healthcare organizations that collect and maintain PHI, but also to any outsourced service provider that uses that information as they work with them. Even financial institutions and other organizations that are not in the healthcare field are subject to HIPAA requirements if they interact with patient health information on certain projects.
Common projects managed by Spectra that are subject to HIPAA regulations include account updates, financial statements, bills, and diagnoses. Our team prints these documents in-house, inserts them into envelopes or uses pressure seal mailers for added security, and mails them, all within our HIPAA compliant environment.
HIPAA Compliant Mailing Services
When a client transfers their address lists and other types of databases to Spectra for use during a printing and mailing project, our team follows strict data security protocols the entire time the information is under our jurisdiction. After the conclusion of the project, we dispose of the lists or return them to the client according to procedures that prevent them from becoming visible to the public at any time.
Spectra offers a number of secure mail options for clients that need to make sure PHI remains invisible while the document is in transit. Blank cover letters added to documents conceal private information more effectively inside an envelope. Today, the pressure seal is the secure mailing method of choice due to its tamper resistant features and opaque exterior. Spectra offers affordable rates for these and other mailing services that keep private information private until the intended recipient opens the piece of mail.
Our HIPAA Compliant Services
Spectra’s HIPAA compliant services are perfect for organizations that need to communicate with patients regarding these common types of protected information:
- Name and address
- Social Security number
- Credit card information
- Health insurance member numbers
- Medical diagnoses
- Treatment history
- Health plan information
- Prescription data
Trust Spectra With Your Ongoing Projects
Spectra excels in long-term partnerships with clients for print and mailing services. Hospitals and other large organizations that regularly need to communicate by mail with members and patients can benefit greatly by having constant access to a trusted source for HIPAA compliance services. Our team functions like an extension of your organization, treating your patients with the same respect and attention to detail that you give them.
Our HIPAA Compliance Protocols
HIPAA compliance is just part of Spectra’s overall commitment to data security. Our print and mailing division is also SOC 2 Type II certified, with regular audits by independent agents to verify that our environment, processes, and employees are up to date on today’s most important data security topics.
- Ongoing professional development helps our team refresh their memory on best practices and stay up to date on new threats to be aware of.
- Periodic penetration tests assess the strength of our network security and other protections against the exposure of PHI.
- Servers and computers hosting databases and address lists are protected behind network firewalls updated with the latest security patches.
- Access to PHI is limited to the members of the Spectra team who need it for a specific client project.
GET IN TOUCH WITH SPECTRA!
Contact us today and experience the difference of working with a partner dedicated to your success.
Consult With Spectra For HIPAA Compliant Service
HIPAA compliance service providers are the only organizations you should trust with the PHI and private personal information (PII) of your customers, members, patients, or clients. Failing to verify the credentials of a third-party provider before sharing databases with sensitive information could lead to data breaches, member notification requirements, legal action, and the exposure of patients’ private details to potential criminal actors.
Schedule a consultation with Spectra to speak with our expert project managers and learn more about our HIPAA compliant services, our SOC 2 Type II certification, and our data security protocols. Don’t take chances with the private information of your patients! Data breaches severely erode trust between patients and the organizations that handle their PHI, and can lead to large fines and legal action. Make sure that you work with a team that fully understands HIPAA guidelines and how they apply to each of your projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
The HIPAA guidelines include a requirement to notify patients when it becomes apparent that their PHI may have been exposed to unauthorized view. Organizations must send this notification in a timely manner, explaining how the breach occurred and what steps the patient can take next.
Yes, our HIPAA compliant print facility is able to quickly and securely print these critical pieces of correspondence. Mitigate the damage of a data breach by working with a print services provider that follows best data security practices.
Probably not. However, if you are sending information to individuals based on their medical information, you must adhere to HIPAA regulations. For example, if you are mailing a brochure on cancer treatments to patients who have been treated for cancer at a large medical center, HIPAA rules most likely apply to your project.
We maintain a HIPAA compliant environment throughout our print and distribution facility. That means that even projects that are not regulated by HIPAA rules, such as general marketing campaigns, are conducted with attention to data security. Projects that involve PHI, however, are managed with special protections in place to ensure that patients’ information is not exposed to unauthorized individuals.
SOC 2 Type II certification describes an organization’s overall data security processes, and it is awarded based on ongoing independent audits. Spectra holds this certification in its printing and mailing services. HIPAA compliance is focused on patient health information, and there are special requirements for handling this type of data that are not included in SOC 2 certification.
Our print experts are fully educated on HIPAA compliance services, and we will make sure that your mail campaign is conducted correctly. If there are various options for secure mailing, we’ll help you think through them and decide which is best for your project.
There are heavy fines associated with using patient health information outside the guidelines of HIPAA, even if no data breach occurs. HIPAA compliance is a non-negotiable for healthcare, insurance, and financial organizations that handle PHI, as well as the print and mail service providers that they work with.
The most common projects Spectra manages that are subject to HIPAA regulations are official correspondence about insurance, payments, medical diagnoses, and account updates. Our capabilities also extend to brochures, pamphlets, flyers, educational materials, and even textbooks. We have worked for decades with clients in the healthcare industry and provide powerful support in educating patients on various important topics.
Yes, our digital systems are fully protected against hacking, with updated firewalls and other tools in place to keep our network secure. We use current best practices while obtaining databases from clients, keeping access limited during a project, and returning, deleting, or physically destroying databases at the end of projects.
Our Location
Get in touch with us today to find out more about how Spectra’s Fulfillment Service Center and Warehouse can help.