Smash, don't trash that computer hard drive
Maybe you've just switched to a new electronic health records system and invested in brand-new computers for your medical office. You aren't sure what do to with the old machines. Take a couple home for the kids? Donate several to their school and the church? Nobody would want that old model in the back room - might as well just dump it in the trash.
Wait! Before you do anything with old computers, think about personal patient information that could be retrievable on the hard drive.
The University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago learned a hard lesson in February when dozens of its computers were found in a trash bin behind a medical building. A local television reporter pulled several computers from the pile and discovered that one of them not only worked, but also held more than 100 patient records readily accessible on its hard drive. Information about the patients -- including names, results of examinations and suggested treatments -- popped up on the screen.
What's the best way to ensure that personal patient information is not retrievable from a hard drive? "Why not just take a hammer and bust the puppy up?" suggested Don Branson, privacy official for the Kansas University Physician Corp. at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. The same advice applies to a personal digital assistant, tapes, CD-ROMs and any other obsolete materials containing patient information, said Branson.
Overwriting and degaussing are other methods of erasing hard drives. But KU Medical Center's security administrator Shelli Crocker said her facility considers "physical destruction to be the most reliable way to ensure that there's no potential misuse of sensitive data left on the equipment." The university has a contractual agreement with an outside source for the disposal service.
If you want to take a computer home to the kids, a new hard drive will set you back less than $300. Isn't your peace of mind -- and the privacy of your patients -- worth that?
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Copyright © 2004 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.