Patient privacy has become a major topic of concern over the past several years. With the majority of patient information being transferred over to digital format to improve the convenience, efficiency and cost of storing the data, organizations expose themselves to certain risks. These risks include the possibility of damage to the computers storing the information by natural disaster or human mishandling, corruption by virus attacks, and even stolen data by unauthorized personnel. Prior to the institution of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) by Congress in 1996, there were no universal standards set in place to identify whether or not a healthcare provider was properly securing patient information. HIPAA was designed to reduce the administrative costs of healthcare, to promote the confidentiality and portability of patient records, to develop standards for consistency in the health care industry, and to provide an incentive for electronic communications. With these standards in place, organizations better protect their systems, and patients can feel confident that their personal medical information will remain private.

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https://www.snapblox.com/blogs/2010/08/13/ensuring-hipaa-compliance-with-bloxonline-online-backup-and-archiving-services/

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The SnapBlox Management Team



Friday, August 13, 2010

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