Dear AuntMinnie Member,
As many of you grapple with implementing new patient privacy rules required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), you might try taking a look at one possible minefield of potential HIPAA violations: your MRI suite.
The typical MRI suite is usually full of architectural quirks that increase the likelihood that protected health information could be revealed. So say the experts at Jünk Architects, the architectural design firm that is the source of an article we're featuring this week in our MRI Digital Community.
For example, some scanner control rooms are used both for reading films and for patient corridors into the MRI suite. Other facilities leave patient images up on viewboxes as a sort of digital wallpaper long after the study has been read.
In fairness, many MRI suites were designed before HIPAA came into being. But Jünk Architects has found that many MRI vendors still have not incorporated HIPAA requirements into the standard room drawings that they supply to customers installing a new magnet.
Fortunately, making your MRI suite HIPAA-compliant needn't require a wrecking ball. Find out what you can do by visiting our MRI Digital Community at mri.auntminnie.com.
