If you are the manager of a medical office, then it is very important that you know how to properly recycle and dispose of your unwanted medical technology equipment. Since your patients rely on you to keep their medical and payment information secure, you need to be very careful about how you decommission any medical or computer equipment in your office. To ensure you keep your patients' information safe and secure when it comes to medical recycling, follow these tips:
Tip: Understand that All Medical Technology Machinery is Potentially a Security Risk
If you have never worked as an information technology professional, then you might be surprised how many machines contain sensitive patient data. Some of the most common places this data is stored are within the hard drives located within:
- computers
- file servers
- printers
- copiers
- scanners
- x-ray machines
- mammography machines
- ultrasound machines
- MRI machines
- CT scanners
Technology equipment such as printers and copy machines have internal hard drives just like computers. On these hard drives are copies of all of the documents you have ever printed or copied. The same can be said for many other scanners and medical machines. For this reason, you need to keep this in mind before sending out any type of machine for recycling.
Tip: Use Software to Destroy Data When Possible
Even if you will be sending off computers or medical machines for professional recycling or destruction, first, you should wipe their hard drives using software if possible. For computers and laptops, you can purchase software that will remove all of the data from the drives.
Tip: Use Mechanical Destruction to Destroy Hardware to Prevent a Future Security Breach
Once the data has been removed using software, then you need to have the hard drives mechanically destroyed. There are many companies who specialize in the physical destruction of medical devices and medical office technology products. These companies can be located online, and they use large metal shredding machines that turn the hard drives into shreds of metal that can no longer be read.
Tip: Use the Proper Biohazard Disposal for Infected Medical Devices
Finally, if your medical office has any equipment or medical devices that have come into contact with patients who have infectious diseases, then they must be disposed of as biohazards. The company who removes your other biohazard waste will be able to advise you as to where these items should be properly recycled or disposed of in your local area.
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