Shredding

RMS specializes in the destruction & recycling of all your confidential records. We provide off-site destruction of your documents.  It is important to destroy personal and confidential records that your organization has accumulated.  If someone were to gain possession of these records, not only could they use them for their own gain, but your company could be liable for failing to protect your clients’ privacy.

The benefits of using RMS for document destruction include:

• NO shredder to purchase and maintain
• NO employee wages or benefits to pay
• NO loss of confidentiality and privacy
• NO disposal of bulky, shredded material
• NO removing binders to shred
• NO paper clips or staples to remove
• NO wasted hours shredding
• NO unorganized boxes to maintain
• NO wasted employee time and wages
• NO transporting documents for shredding
• NO wasted office space for storage
• NO mini warehouses to rent
• NO more wondering how long do I keep it

Document Retention and Shredding laws

Below we briefly describe several new federal laws and their requirements. Use the links for more information on these new laws.

Who is affected?	Documents covered	Law
All businesses	Consumer reports and identifying information	Fair & Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)
Financial institutions	Consumer identifying and credit records	Gramm Leach Bliley (GLB)
Health care providers and organizations	Patient Medical Records	Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Publicly held businesses and accounting firms	Accounting audit and working papers	Sarbanes Oxley (SOX)

FACTA

Effective June 2005, this law requires businesses that collect customer information to ensure that the information is protected from “unauthorized access or use.” In addition, the Disposal Rule requires that when such information is discarded, it must be appropriately destroyed by shredding, burning or pulverizing. The federal government’s website states that “although the Disposal Rule applies to consumer reports and the information derived from consumer reports, the Federal Trade Commission encourages those who dispose of any records containing a consumer’s personal or financial information to take similar protective measures.”

More Info:  http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcrajump.shtm

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
This 1996 law and the accompanying 2002 regulation known as the Privacy Rule restrict how health care providers may handle and disclose patient health information. In general, health care entities must ensure that only approved personnel handle protected health information and then only for purposes specified in the law and regulations.  Records Management Services can help your business comply with these requirements by

• Storing protected health information in a secure location
• Storing electronic files on our secure servers
• Destroying inactive medical records in accord with state medical society guidance and in compliance with HIPAA regulations
• Converting paper medical files to electronic files to
  1. Save office space
  2. Provide easy access to records
  3. Limit access only to individuals you provide with designated passwords and encryption software

     More Info: http://www.hipaa.org/

• Gramm Leach Bliley
  This law, also referred to as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, requires financial institutions and businesses that receive personal information in the course of conducting their business to establish safeguards for the handling and disclosure of that information.

  More Info: http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/glbact.html

Sarbanes Oxley
This 2002 legislation creates new requirements for businesses and accountants to maintain corporate audit records or review working papers for 5 years beyond the year in which an audit is concluded. The new law also creates penalties for destroying or altering documents that are relevant to contemplated or ongoing investigations or official actions. LA Records can help businesses and accounting firms and their clients comply with the law by

• Establishing a retention and destruction schedule for audit documents that complies with federal law
• Storing audit records off site to limit the potential for tampering or inappropriate destruction
• Creating electronic versions of paper records to provide “back ups” of original documents in the event the originals are inadvertently lost, altered, or destroyed.

  More Info: http://www.sarbanes-oxley-forum.com/