With Red Bag Solutions, liability issues are mitigated because the infectious waste leaves the facility as “previously sterilized”, unrecognizable, non-sharp ordinary trash or non-regulated waste. Risks associated with transporting medical waste over the road through surrounding neighborhoods and communities is eliminated. The “cradle to grave” trail of manifests for medical waste transported for treatment at a remote facility disappears.
HIPAA requires the protected health information (PHI) be rendered essentially unreadable, indecipherable, and otherwise cannot be reconstructed prior to it being placed in a dumpster. In general, a covered entity may not dispose of PHI in paper records, labeled prescription bottles, hospital identification bracelets, PHI on electronic media, or other forms of PHI in dumpsters, recycling bins, garbage cans, or other trash receptacles generally accessible by the public or other unauthorized persons. SSM technology ensures that any PHI information passed through the SSM is total obliterated. Even basic shredding of treated medical waste is not necessarily a requirement for off-site processors.
The HIPAA Privacy Rule requires that covered entities apply appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the privacy of PHI, in any form, including in connection with the disposal of such information.” See 45 CFR 164.530(c). Therefore, using the SSM technology to address the HIPAA information contained on medical waste, an institution can be confident that any proprietary information will be totally destroyed and any potential liability will be eliminated.
