HIPAA Statement

MedCommons works with industry groups to ensure that its products and services meet or exceed industry standards with respect to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"). MedCommons's products and services are specifically designed to include features that help our customers comply with HIPAA. The MedCommons appliance uses a relational database and document store that employs a secure login process requiring a user name and password. When a user adds or modifies data within the database or document store, a record is made that includes which data were changed, the user ID, and the date and time the changes were made. This establishes an audit trail that can be examined by authorized system administrators.

Customer Support

MedCommons's product support staff will work with customers to help implement MedCommons's products in a HIPAA compliant environment. All remote access to customer patient information by MedCommons product support staff will be made using a fully encrypted protocol.

Business Associate

HIPAA requires health care providers to enter into "business associate" contracts with certain businesses to which they disclose patient health information. These business associate contracts generally require the recipients of such information to use appropriate safeguards to protect the patient health information they receive. To perform certain service and support functions, MedCommons personnel may need access to patient health information maintained by its customers. As a result, MedCommons may be considered a 'business associate' of customers to whom it provides such services. MedCommons' business associate contract will generally assure its customers that the company will use patient information obtained from them to provide services and support only and will safeguard that information from misuse.

Privacy & Security Policy

To implement these business associate requirements and protect the confidentiality and integrity of the patient information it receives, MedCommons's Privacy and Security Policy will:

• Provide that the company obtain and use confidential patient health information obtained from its customers only as necessary to perform customer service and support functions;
• Limit access to such information to those employees and agents who perform identified service and support functions;
• Prohibit disclosure of patient health information received from customers to persons who are not employees or agents of the company in the absence of express approval from the legal department and, if appropriate, the customer and/or patient;
• Require all employees and agents of the company to report uses and disclosures of patient information that are not permitted by MedCommons's Privacy and Security Policy;
• Provide that MedCommons investigate all reports that patient health information was used in a manner not permitted by its Privacy and Security Policy and will impose appropriate sanctions for conduct prohibited by the policy;
• Establish that MedCommons employees who may come in contact with patient health information receive training regarding MedCommons's Privacy and Security Policy and the importance of protecting the privacy and security of patient health information; and
• Provide for the storage and transmission of patient health information received from customers in a secure manner that protects the integrity, confidentiality and availability of the information.

You can also download a PDF of Amazon's HIPAA Statement