In hospitals, paper isn’t going anywhere soon—with printers constantly churning out everything from medical records and lab results to prescriptions, billing information, and patient forms. Unfortunately, that means the risk of a HIPAA violation is just a misplaced page away.
Hospital print workflows handle thousands of jobs every day, but a single document left on a printer tray could expose sensitive patient information, leading to serious legal and financial consequences (not to mention loss of patient trust!)
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was introduced to protect confidential patient health information. HIPAA regulates all forms of Protected Health Information (PHI), including printed documents, yet print security is often overlooked in compliance efforts." So, what can you do to prevent HIPAA violations in a high-volume hospital print environment?
Why printing is a high-risk area for HIPAA violations
Healthcare print security involves handling protected PHI in its physical form, ensuring HIPAA printing compliance. But with so many pages being printed, faxed, and copied every day, the risk of a HIPAA violation increases.
Many hospitals use networked or shared printers, where multiple users print to a single device, and it’s easy for a staff member to hit “print” but forget to collect their document. When a print job is left unattended by a printer, on a desk or in a common area, it may be accessed by unauthorized staff or visitors—exposing confidential patient information. Employees may also print PHI without proper authorization, either intentionally or accidentally. Another common issue is printed documents being sent to the wrong person, department, or even an external recipient.
Unlike digital records, printed documents don’t have an automatic audit trail, so if a page goes missing there’s no way to know if it has fallen into the wrong hands. And while digital security breaches often require sophisticated hacking, print-related breaches can happen through simple human error—making them common, but also preventable.
Common printing-related HIPAA violations in hospitals
Because hospitals are high-volume print environment, typical HIPAA violations include:
- Unattended print jobs. Documents are left at the printer or copier, where unauthorized staff, patients, or visitors can take them.
- Sending to an incorrect recipient. Printed documents are mistakenly sent to the wrong person or department, violating patient confidentiality.
- Printing more PHI than necessary. Staff may print entire medical records when only a small portion is needed, increasing the risk of unauthorized exposure.
- Public printing. A healthcare professional may print sensitive information in a common area where other people can see it.
- Lack of auditing/print logs. The hospital might not have any way of tracking who has accessed a document, making it impossible to identify the source of a data leak.
- Improper disposal. Documents are simply thrown in the trash rather than shredded, and can be picked up by an unauthorized person.
How healthcare print security can prevent HIPAA violations
Here are some simple steps you can take to reduce the chance of a HIPAA violation:
- Set up strict access controls on printing devices to ensure only authorized personnel can print PHI.
- Update passwords regularly to prevent hackers from gaining access to print devices.
- Use dedicated printers for PHI to avoid sending patient information to public or shared printers.
- Implement data encryption so that information can’t be intercepted while the print job is in transit to the printer.
- Create a print audit trail, monitoring for any unauthorized access or excessive printing of PHI.
- Enforce secure disposal of printed PHI documents, such as shredding or locked disposal bins.
- Train employees on the basics of HIPAA compliance, including safe handling, collection, and disposal of printed PHI as part of their hospital print workflows.
Leveraging print management solutions for HIPAA compliant printing
A centralized print management solution is a powerful tool for monitoring and controlling hospital print workflows across the entire facility. Advanced security features include:
- User authentication. By requiring user authentication, such as a PIN code or ID swipe card, a print management solution ensures that only authorized people can access and print sensitive documents.
- Secure print release. Documents are only released when users confirm their identity at the printer, minimizing the risk of a print job being left unattended on a print tray and falling into the wrong hands.
- Follow-me printing. This functionality allows users to send print jobs to any compatible printer within the network so they can choose the most convenient printer (and know exactly where the document has ended up!) Find-Me printing ensures users authenticate at a printer before a document is released, reducing the risk of abandoned print jobs. It also enables staff to retrieve documents from a nearby secure printer instead of a busy or inaccessible one.
- Data encryption. Sensitive information is encrypted while in transit from the user’s computer to the printer, ensuring the confidentiality of patient information as the print job moves through the network.
- Audit trails. Comprehensive print logs record all printing activities—including details about who prints what and when—to identify any security breaches and unauthorized access.
- Secure mobile printing. With many healthcare professionals working from their own devices, mobile printing security is critical for protecting patient data sent from a tablet or smart phone.
- Document security measures. Digital signatures can be used to ensure the authenticity of documents, while watermarking helps protect patient information from unauthorized access or use. These features mark documents as confidential and help create an audit trail.
Training and Policies for Hospital Staff
To ensure HIPAA compliance in healthcare printing, hospitals must provide training for all employees who handle PHI, including doctors, nurses, admin staff, IT teams and even volunteers and contractors. Training should cover patient privacy rights, protocols for reporting data security breaches, and best practices for the storage, transmission, and disposal of patient data.
Hospitals also need to have clear policies for protecting patient confidentiality. These should include:
- Electronic data security measures – Mandate the use of strong passwords and print job encryption.
- Physical security practices - Ensure cabinets are locked, print rooms require swipe access, and documents are securely disposing of.
- Print retention limits – Avoid storing sensitive print jobs on printer memory for extended periods.
- Secure faxing policies – Since some hospitals still rely on faxing, clear guidelines on secure faxing of PHI should be included.
- Clean desk policy – Specify how employees need to leave their workspace when they step away from their desk and at the end of each business day, limiting the exposure of sensitive data to unauthorized individuals such as cleaning staff or vendors.
- Reporting procedures - Include documented procedures for reporting any suspected HIPAA violations and managing audits.
- Incident Response Plan – Develop and regularly review a defined protocol for responding to and mitigating print-related HIPAA breaches.
By combining regular staff training and clear printing policies with a centralized print management solution, hospitals can create a HIPAA-compliant print environment that safeguards patient information against potential data breaches.
