While electronics are a huge asset, they can pose many threats, specifically those related to the data. In addition to worrying about hacks, companies also need to be worried about the privacy of their data in old and discarded devices.
Getting rid of electronic data isn’t as simple as destroying a piece of paper. Even if you delete files from your computer, the information still exists and can be recoverable, putting your data at risk. All businesses should be concerned about protecting the private data on their electronics and know the steps needed to fully destroy it.
While data destruction is important in any industry, it’s especially important in healthcare. Anyone receiving any sort of healthcare expects the utmost privacy from their provider, so healthcare professionals need to ensure that they have an effective data destruction plan in place.
Healthcare Data Destruction: Why You Need it
At Newtech Recycling, we know the importance of data destruction in the healthcare field and take all the necessary precautions to protect your private information. Here are the three main reasons why data destruction is important in healthcare and how to properly retire your broken or outdated equipment.
1. It Protects Patients’ Privacy
Healthcare professionals want to give their patients the best care possible. Due to the nature of the healthcare field, those who work in it are held to extremely high standards to serve their patients. When you receive treatment from a healthcare professional, you want to know that your information is safe with them.
Regardless of the care a patient receives, the information healthcare professionals can access regarding their patients is deeply personal and extremely sensitive. If this data is compromised in any way, it can put patients in danger. There are people out there who will try to gain access to this information and cause harm to your patients, so you need to do everything you can to protect their data.
2. Your Reputation Depends On It
Of course, while patients are the top priority of healthcare workers, they also need to worry about their business. To keep a business up and running, it needs to maintain a good reputation. Otherwise, no one will want to utilize their services. Security and safety risks like accessible data can jeopardize a business in the healthcare industry.
Trust is a necessary part of receiving quality healthcare. If patients feel that they can’t trust healthcare workers to handle sensitive information responsibly, it’s impossible to build a relationship that allows patients to be treated and cared for effectively. Healthcare providers with a bad record of protecting their patients’ medical records and other information are going to struggle to bring in enough business to stay open.
3. Data Destruction is Legally Required
It’s extremely important to understand that destroying protected health information isn’t optional. Federal and state laws require businesses in healthcare to destroy electronic data. HIPAA has strict rules mandating what types of data must be destroyed to keep patients’ information safe. State laws may require healthcare providers to maintain patient health records for a certain retention period, so even if a provider is keeping their electronic devices, they still may need this data destroyed if they’re no longer retaining this information.
Destroying data and ensuring that the methods used to destroy it are secure are up to the businesses themselves, so it’s important to ensure the data destruction company or ITAD company you use is reliable. If a healthcare provider is caught not following regulations for data destruction, they could face expensive fines and other consequences.
How is Electronic Data Destroyed?
Destroying electronic data isn’t as easy as simply deleting files from your devices. If you have to protect your data before you get rid of your computer and any other electronic equipment you have, you need professional assistance.
At Newtech Recycling, we have a few steps in our data destruction process that ensure no one can access it in the future:
- First, we remove the hard drives from all of your devices.
- Then, once we have the hard drive, we wipe the data from it using a software purge and hit it with an electromagnetic pulse that will destroy any data stored on it.
- To finish the process, we physically shred hard drives and computer drivers, ensuring that no one can retrieve any data from them.
Our certified data destruction services are the best way you can ensure your sensitive data is fully destroyed when it’s time to recycle your old equipment.
Ensure Your Data is Fully Destroyed
Data destruction in healthcare is necessary to protect your patients and your business. Not just ethically, but legally, too.
To improve the way your business handles retention and destruction, let Newtech Recycling’s data destruction services help. We understand the importance of data destruction in healthcare. Newtech Recycling takes every precaution to ensure that you can safely recycle your unwanted electronics and not have to worry about anyone accessing confidential information.
If you’re in the healthcare field and need to recycle old medical equipment, we can help. We will ensure that all data stored on your electronics are carefully destroyed in a legal manner. Contact us to learn more about our healthcare data destruction services in New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania.