X-Ray films disposal information.

Medical X-Ray films and MRI films are considered protected health information and must be destroyed and disposed of properly.

This can be done by a proper x ray film recycling company, such company should also be registered with the EPA in order to assure that the x-ray film is disposed off with accordance to the EPA guidelines in order to assure that the x ray film recycling program is earth friendly, on top of that, the x-ray film recycling company must follow HIPAA's strict rules and regulations of handling x-ray film and other medical records which contains sensitive information.

HIPAA rule.

The Privacy Rule is a section of this law designed to protect the privacy of certain health information.

This information (X-Ray & MRI films) is known as Protected Health Information (“PHI”): information that relates to the health of an individual and identifies the individual.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Public Law 104-191 (HIPAA) was signed into law in August of 1996. It is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and enforced by the U.S. Office of Civil Rights.

Who is affected by this rule?

HIPAA requires all health plans, HMO’s Medicare (and Medicaid), and health care providers –“Covered Entities”—to comply with the rules and regulations.

SMALL COVERED ENTITIES examples are: Doctors, Dentists, Chiropractors and Urgent Care Centers for example. Under HIPAA a “Covered Entity”, a facility or health care provider must abide by and protect patient “PHI”—Protected Health Information HIPAA.

Retention period of medical records.

X-Ray films, MRI films, radiography films and other medical records that are maintained by physicians as part of the patient’s records insuring quality health care.

The HIPAA rule does not refer to the period for retaining medical records, it is followed by the (local) department of health state law , each state has a different law for keeping medical records. click here to see your state's law for x-ray film retention period.

HIPAA rule for medical records and x-ray film disposal.

HIPAA left the responsibility for the x-ray film disposal process with the physicians, and also gave physicians / facilities the choice of doing an on-site or off-site destruction, however, HIPAA rule does state that the disposal of x ray films and other medical records must be done in a way that preserves the confidentiality of the information.

How can that be accomplished?

A proper disposal of x-rays can be accomplished by either shredding the x-ray films or medical records on site, this has to be done in a way that the information is destroyed permanently.

Off site destruction - handling the medical records to a facility (x-ray films recycling company) which will destroy the x-ray films properly and provide a certificate of destruction.

A “Certificate of Destruction” must be issued by the x-ray film recycling company to confirm proper destruction of protected health information has occurred. The certificate of destruction provides the business entity (physician, lab, etc.) documentation that a proper disposal of medical records, the certificate may be used for tax purposes as well.

Advantages for disposing of x-ray films with a recycling company.

• reputable x-ray film recycling facility will make all efforts in order to protect the information during transport and in the recycling facility and will make all efforts to destroy all of the information on the medical records to assure that the certificate of destruction provided is accurate.
• Most types of x-ray films contain silver, as part of recycling x-ray film the silver is reclaimed, by that physicians / facilities can actually get cash back for the x-ray film and have it disposed of properly, which makes recycling X-Rays a cost-effective and efficient alternative.
• The process of recycling outdated X-Ray films is a process that is beneficial to the health care Provider and the environment.

The environment part of recycling x-ray film.

X-Ray films contain materials other than silver that might be toxic and harm the environment and human health if not disposed of properly.

Silver is an important natural resource, recycling X-Ray films in a refinery which extracts silver, The silver can be reused for things such as silver solder, jewelry, the silver plating of utensils, electrical components and film remanufacturing.

Who are we?

BW RECYCLING, INC. an international corporation with over 30 years of experience in metals recycling, including silver and gold, we serve the medical community directly without outsourcing.

BW RECYCLING, INC. abides by the strict EPA guidelines for X-Ray destruction and disposal. We buy X-Ray and MRI films for recycling purposes.

Finally our tips.

Tip: It is highly recommended to choose the most reliable x-ray film recycler and consider twice before handling any sensitive information such as x-ray films to a recycler that promises higher returns on silver, the silver reclamation part of the destruction process is the least important part, the main purpose of the x-ray films destruction is to make sure that all of the sensitive information including, x-ray films, paper jackets, charts or any other media that contains sensitive patients information will be destroyed permanently.

Make sure you handle the x-ray films to a responsible x-ray films recycler and do all efforts in order to make sure it will end up destructed as well as recycled in accordance with the EPA's regulations, be sure to ask your x-ray film recycler to provide you with recent references of physicians who handled their x-ray films to them for recycling.