HIPAA Printer Security: Is your patient data safe?

Picture this. You spent the holidays with your family and somewhere in between enjoying turkey dinner and toasting the New Year you contracted a pretty serious stomach virus. After a rough week, you decide to head to the doctor’s office to be evaluated. Upon your arrival, you’re handed a clipboard with four pages of personal questions to answer. You write down your social security number, address, and pharmacy phone number and make a few phone calls to gather your family’s medical history. You write down all of the medications you’ve taken and enter your height and weight. Now, imagine if your HIPAA printer security was flawed. The caretaker receiving your personal information accidentally sent it to the wrong printer tray.

Your personal information and medical data has now been printed and left behind for anyone to find. Unfortunately, this type of scenario is all too common in medical facilities both large and small. According to a recent HIPAA journal, printing errors account for 15% of all HIPAA breaches.

What’s the solution?

• Proximity printing. Utilizing proximity-based printing strategies gives the sysadmin the ability to assign printers based on client name or IP address. The healthcare provider with the correct credentials approaches the machine with the correct credentials and (voila!) the information they need to print is sent exactly where it needs to go.
• Choosing a solution that is secure. There are several ways to secure print jobs, including secure print with a PIN code or badge release. Integration of printing methods that include abilities to manage the release of print jobs can be a large step in verifying that the print job is picked up when printed. This integration might be through various printing solutions, or utilizing built-in capabilities of advanced print features from the printing manufacturer.
• Keep it simple for your users. Finding a tool that can administer printing from a single management console, regardless of the application delivery method, can simplify a deployment and streamline ongoing support. For users, having a common printing method and the right printer in the right place saves time and frustration.

Tricerat's solutions keep your data safe.

Tricerat's innovative universal print driver technology eliminates printer driver and 32-/64-bit compatibility issues for fast and reliable printing in Citrix, Microsoft RDS, and VMware environments. Add to the mix a centralized print server and a single-source print management console, and now you have the remedy for physicians and healthcare professionals to print on demand—without IT intervention, without interruption in quality of care, and in full compliance with HIPAA regulations.