What To Do About HIPAA

Questions and Answers About HIPAA

Are you using Shredders?

Not only are shredders environmentally undesirable (shredded paper still goes to the landfill), they are expensive, demand maintenance, breakdown and are low volume, requiring associates to stand over them.  With Maxxafe System, covered documents are inserted into the slot in the locking lid and collected in the container.  When full, about 35 lbs. or 4100 sheets of paper, the lid is removed, the container is sealed and a special FedEx barcode shipping label is applied.  Our partner, FedEx arrives, scan the container, tracks it and delivers it to our secure facility for shredding.

Are you using “traditional” shredding consoles?

If so, you know all about paying for service which is scheduled on a regular basis, not “on demand.”  Service personnel enter your office and take away the paperwork, whether the console is full or not.  With Maxxafe System, you only pay for shredding full containers, providing full value for every shredding dollar.

What’s more, many offices don’t have room for a single, large console.  They prefer the more convenient size of the Maxxafe System container, and distribute several around the office.  Since each is serviced “on demand”, when full, this is a convenient and cost effective option.

What about the HIPAA disposal rule?

Lawsuits can be brought against health care organizations in state courts if privacy or confidentiality violations occur causing damage to patients – particularly where inadequate and improper employee training has occurred. Due diligence in implementing and maintaining all HIPAA training and documentation requirements is essential for health care organizations to substantiate compliance efforts and to avoid the appearance of carelessness in the event of civil litigation. A strong due diligence program involving workforce training, testing and documentation will reduce exposure to liabilities associated with breaches of confidentiality caused from improper handling of protected health information.

Does using Maxxafe System eliminate my HIPAA disposal rule liability?

HIPAA regulations require you to sign a Business Associate’s agreement that defines the relationship when you “hire a document destruction contractor to dispose of material specifically identified” in the law.  Basically, you are notifying Maxxafe that we will be destroying protected information.

The agreement does not require you to continue using our service and you only pay for the service you use for as long as you want to use it.

There is an important exception to HIPAA liability provided by the Enforcement Rule. You generally are not liable for the HIPAA violations of your business associate if you are in compliance with the business associate provisions of the Privacy and Security Rules as they apply to your practice. Essentially, this means that you have in place “business associate contracts” that comply with those rules.

Can you help us create a HIPAA compliance policy?

A free sample policy is available on the website at www.maxxafe.com/policy

Can you help train us on our HIPAA compliance policy?

Maxxafe System offers an online training module which can be customized to your written HIPAA compliance policy.  Associates can be trained with documentation of testing provided for HR files.

Lawsuits can be brought against health care organizations in state courts if privacy or confidentiality violations occur causing damage to patients – particularly where inadequate and improper employee training has occurred. Due diligence in implementing and maintaining all HIPAA training and documentation requirements is essential for health care organizations to substantiate compliance efforts.

How is Maxxafe System different from my other options?

The reason we developed this program for geographically-diverse and rural organizations is because no other option was cost effective or comprehensive.

Option 1: Buy a shredder for each store.
Expect to spend $180 or more for a shredder that will handle staples, then calculate the cost to have an employee do the shredding.  Determine the maintenance and replacement costs when the machines break down.
Issues:  Are the documents locked until shredding occurs?  When the machine breaks, is a replacement available immediately, or will the documents have to be locked up and wait for shredding?  Are you comfortable with throwing the shredded documents into the regular trash? No recycling occurs.

Option 2:  Contract with a traditional document destruction company.
Issues:  Rates:  $30 to $45 per month.  Expect to make room for a large console or rolling bin.  An outside employee will be in your business every two to four weeks to service it, whether it is full or not.  What happens during the quarterly purge when you run out of room in the bin and it hasn’t been serviced yet?  If you have a rural location, service may be unavailable.  Compliance measurement and office-to-office comparison becomes impossible.  You need additional staff to manage the program and compile the compliance reporting.

Only the Maxxafe System provides these compliance benefits at a cost no other option can touch!

How much does it cost?

We have partnered with FedEx to insure the most reliable, secure tracking system at the lowest possible cost. Your MedAssets contract discount means you pay the lowest possible price for HIPAA-compliant shredding.

Using our prepaid Package Return Program with pre-addressed shipping labels means you can ship a container to us from any location in the US for  $16.70.

Your startup package contains:
One reusable patent-pending locking lid
10-flat folded containers
10-pre-adressed FedEx shipping labels
is delivered to you with everything you need to get started for $50.

Does Maxxafe System fit under my desk?
Yes, the right-sized container can be placed around the office to improve efficiency.
Tell me about the Maxxafe System compliance reports.
Simply stated:  frequency and weight tracking by location.  If you have one vendor who can provide you with reports on the exact amount of destruction being generated by your offices, you can determine make compliance measurement simple.  Should a regulatory inquiry be received, your 1.) written policy, 2.) training policy and 3.) documentation of usage proves you are in compliance. Any other process, whether using personal shredders or destruction services vendors who can’t measure volume, is unreliable.

Tell me about the Maxxafe System compliance reports.

Simply stated:  frequency and weight tracking by location.  If you have one vendor who can provide you with reports on the exact amount of destruction being generated by your offices, you can determine make compliance measurement simple.  Should a regulatory inquiry be received, your 1.) written policy, 2.) training policy and 3.) documentation of usage proves you are in compliance. Any other process, whether using personal shredders or destruction services vendors who can’t measure volume, is unreliable.

Does Maxxafe System help me with my Green/Recycling activities?
We compress the shredded paper into 1300 lb. bales before shipping them in truckload quantities to paper mills for recycling into post-consumer product.  We divert tons of paper from landfills and will provide you with reports on the Ecological benefit derived from using the Maxxafe System.  Even the shipping container is recycled, so this is a truly “Green” initiative.

Is shredding done in a NAID AAA Certified facility?
Meeting the highest standards in the document destruction industry, NAID (National Association of Information Destruction) AAA Certification is an elite threshold which satisfies the third-party due diligence requirements of the regulations and assures you that processes and security are in place.

Is Maxxafe System useful for my small or rural practice?
Small and medium volume sites are exactly what Maxxafe System is designed for.  With variability in demand, cost sensitivity and in some cases inability to get ANY service, healthcare providers now have the HIPAA compliant solution for any location in the country.