This is an example of what an image looks like after it's redacted by software. Health care providers use such software to black out sensitive information such as patients' medical records to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has been creating a buzz in the health care industry since the late 1990s.
It's the first federal privacy standard that protects patients' medical records and other health information provided to health plans, doctors, hospitals and health care providers. Health care entities are required to take steps to limit the use or disclosure of personal health information regardless of form: paper, oral or electronic. HIPAA compliance began in April.
In an industry already burdened by paperwork, The American Hospital Association estimates it will cost the health care industry $22 billion for HIPAA compliance during the next five years. Doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and related businesses are looking for efficient tools that can help bring them in line with the federal government's guidelines.
Removing Sensitive Information
That's where Appligent Inc. comes in, says Virginia Gavin, CEO of the company, which makes third-party software for Adobe® PDF files. The Lansdowne, Pa.-based firm provides Adobe® Acrobat plug-in and server-based software for the on-demand customization, manipulation and delivery of electronic documents. For instance, the company's Redax line removes text and scanned images from PDF documents. Users apply the software to edit PDF documents to remove sensitive or private information before they're made public. Print distributors selling to the medical market can use the software to help their clients comply with HIPAA.
Redax was built for the U.S. government as a user-friendly way to handle Freedom of Information Act requests and other requests for sensitive information. Although Redax applications aren't specifically designed for HIPAA compliance, the company is confident that its experience with the federal government and the software's capabilities will make it successful in the health care industry. "We see this as an extra way to use Redax," Gavin says. Lawyers, government agencies and law enforcement (including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) are primary users of the software.
Moving Toward HIPAA Compliance
Appligent's software helps health care firms meet the federal privacy standard.
BY JOE DONATELLI
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Know What Other Firms Think
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Appligent offers Redax Enterprise Server, Redax 3.5 plug-in and Redax Lite, a streamlined version of Redax 3.5. By using a menu command, Redax 3.5 can search a document, tag specific words in a selected text file and overlay them with corresponding exemption codes. The tagged selections can be moved or deleted while a copy of the original file is saved. Users also can customize their exemption palettes based on specific needs. "Many health care providers are still using disclaimers," Gavin says. "They send out the full text with a disclaimer at the bottom telling people what they can or cannot disclose. But people can still see that sensitive information. Using a disclaimer isn't going to be enough."
Redax Lite is well-suited for small- and medium-sized businesses that rely on PDF files. While Redax plug-in can remove information from a 10,000-page document, Redax Lite can quickly scan short documents. "We try to make it as easy as possible for people to use," Gavin says. "We took out the functions only the government needed and built it so that someone in an HR department can use it on a 2- to 3-page document" quickly.
A Better Way for Kaiser Permanente
Constance Harvey, a training development consultant with Kaiser Permanente's Data Warehouse division in Portland, Ore., uses Redax to prepare documents for presentations and training seminars. "It's very easy to use and it saves a lot of time," Harvey says. During presentations, Kaiser Permanente uses patients' reports as examples and is careful not to show patients' names and other sensitive information. When using slides, "you're wondering, 'Is the information really gone?'" Harvey says. "With this software, we know it isn't masked. We know it's gone."
Before Kaiser Permanente purchased Redax earlier this year, Harvey created samples the old-fashioned way. She copied the original documents, used markers to black out sensitive information, and then made copies. Using these documents in overhead projections was out of the question. The alternative was to create a dummy document, but that took longer.
Now she uses those same report examples with sensitive information blacked, often at training meetings. After these meetings, she can email the documents as attachments or post them online as reference materials for Kaiser's employees. "It's wonderful to have those documents right there on your computer," Harvey said.
Harvey says it took her a long time to find the software before she heard about it on an Adobe user discussion web site. Gavin says Appligent is now actively marketing Redax for HIPAA compliance. She expects larger companies seeking fuller compliance with health care laws to take interest in Appligent's new Enterprise Redax Server, which was launched in September. The software removes information on servers rather than individual desktops. It processes large quantities of files, identifies marked-up data to be removed and permanently deletes that information from PDF files.
