Best USB Flash Drive for PHI
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which was signed into law by the American government in 1996, aims to improve the exchange of medical data as well as how patients’ personally identifiable information is handled by healthcare professionals.
A patient’s protected health information, or PHI, must be kept in a secure location per legal requirements. This location could be found offline or online. The healthcare provider has a duty to try their best to provide the information in the format that the patient has asked, whether that be a paper copy or an electronic file.
Medical providers can give their patients a secure, encrypted USB flash drive containing their patients’ Protected Health Information by using Nexcopy’s Secure Disk, which complies with HIPAA regulations (PHI).
Using Secure Disk technology, patient data is encrypted and kept in a hidden digital partition. The patient selects their own password to secure this portion of the computer. The hidden partition is totally obscured from view and inaccessible to anyone when it is linked to a computer. The hidden partition won’t activate unless the right password is provided, and only then will the digital health data be displayed.
The USB hardware chipset, which may be located on the USB stick itself, is in charge of managing the Secure Disk’s hidden partition. Hardware, which delivers the highest level of security that a technological product is capable of offering, is the answer to the security challenge.
As medical personnel started to rely more heavily on electronic records and many other technologies to keep and monitor patient information, it became more crucial that medical records for patients be preserved in a safe setting. The central government of the United States drafted legislation to give these protections as a direct result of this requirement. These laws were enacted into law, and their result is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). There is no simple, low-tech, or user-friendly method to effectively save this information, according to Nexcopy’s analysis of the market’s offline storage solutions. These three considerations were at the forefront of Nexcopy’s design while creating the Secure Disk technology. The three are each described as follows:
Simple:
There is always some kind of defensive technology present with the equipment.
User Friendly:
Because Nexcopy is aware that non-technical consumers would be using the application, the login process has been made simpler.
Low Technology:
You don’t need any login credentials or cloud storage to use the product. It is possible to use this independent solution offline.
The HIPAA-compliant USB flash drive offers a level of security for private medical documents that is unmatched. Microsoft Windows and flash drives in the Secure Disk format are compatible (Windows 7 and later). At present time, neither Apple nor Linux are supported as operating systems (in development)
Because the hidden partition is instantly enabled when the USB is withdrawn from the computer, it is challenging for a user to accidentally access it. By doing this, the user is prevented from unintentionally leaving the hidden partition open. The User also has the choice to disconnect from the Secure Disk while it is still attached to the host machine.
Why Is HIPAA Regulation Compliance Important for Healthcare Providers?
Healthcare providers who breach the HIPAA rules may face severe ramifications, including financial penalties and the potential loss of their ability to receive federal funding. To avoid fines, these businesses must constantly abide by HIPAA. In order to retain and protect a patient’s healthcare information, also known as Protected Health Information, covered companies are required to comply with HIPAA.
The majority of breaches are by far those brought on by organizational personnel negligence. The intention would be to reduce the possibility that such employees would commit fundamental errors. By requiring that staff utilize a secure disc for any patient information that needs to be shared, the business safeguards itself against cyberattacks, data breaches, and the unprotected exchange of protected health information (PHI).
Conclusion
To protect the privacy and security of a patient’s Protected Health Information, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was developed (PHI). Utilizing Nexcopy’s HIPAA-compliant USB flash drive lowers your exposure to risk as well as your risk of exposure. According to all appearances, Nexcopy has the most sophisticated system for safely storing protected health information in an offline setting.