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1. North State Medical Transport carefully monitors and regulates the receipt and removal <br /> of hardware and electronic media that contain PHI and other patient and business <br /> information into and out of our stations and other facilities. <br /> 2. As a general rule, simple deletion of files or folders is not sufficient to ensure removal of <br /> the file or data. This simply removes the directional "pointers"that allow a user to find <br /> the file or folder more readily. Deleted files are usually completely retrievable with <br /> special software and computer system expertise. <br /> 3. North State Medical Transport has in place the following procedures governing the <br /> disposal of hardware, electronic media, and e-PHI stored on hardware and other <br /> electronic media: <br /> • Sanitizing Hard Disk Drives. All hard disk drives that have been approved by the <br /> HIPAA Compliance Officer for removal and disposal (or taken out of active use) shall <br /> be sanitized so that all programs and data have been removed from the drive. North <br /> State Medical Transport will follow industry best practices (such as the U.S. <br /> Department of Defense clearing and sanitizing standard — DoD 5220.22-M) when <br /> cleaning off hard drives. <br /> Proper sanitizing usually involves a reformatting of the hard drive in a secure <br /> manner with an approved wipeout utility program. Degaussing software may need <br /> to be used to ensure total removal of files. <br /> No hard drive will be reissued, sold or otherwise discarded until the drive has been L <br /> sanitized. <br /> • Media Re-Use. All e-PHI and other patient and business information shall be t' <br /> removed from any media devices before they are made available for reuse. <br /> • Accountability. North State Medical Transport tracks the movement of all computer <br /> hardware, workstations, and data storage devices. Movement both within the <br /> organization and outside the organization is tracked. <br /> • Data Backup and Storage. Each information system area will create an exact copy of <br /> all e-PHI when necessary immediately prior to any movement or disposal.This <br /> procedure is in addition to the standard routine backup protocol to ensure that all e- <br /> PHI is preserved before potential compromise. <br /> • Destruction of Paper and electronic PHI. When destroying and/or permanently <br /> removing PHI from electronic media for any purpose, North State Medical Transport <br /> shall adhere to HHS's "Guidance Specifying the Technologies and Methodologies <br />