HIPAA Printing Compliance: A Practical Checklist for Healthcare Providers

HIPAA Printing Compliance: A Practical Checklist for Healthcare Providers

Despite the rise of digital record-keeping, printers remain a vital and vulnerable point of risk in healthcare environments. From patient charts and prescriptions to insurance authorisations and billing statements, printed protected health information (PHI) is everywhere. Yet many organisations still lack adequate safeguards for how that information is printed, handled, and disposed of.

According to IBM’s 2024 Data Breach Report, healthcare breaches remain the most expensive across industries, averaging $10.93 million per incident. Many of these stem not from sophisticated cyberattacks, but from overlooked gaps in basic operations — including printing.

This guide outlines what HIPAA expects when it comes to printed PHI and provides a clear, actionable checklist to assess your organisation's risk.

What Does HIPAA Require Around Printing?

While HIPAA doesn’t explicitly use the word “printer,” it governs any medium containing PHI — including hard copies. The three core rules all apply:

• Privacy Rule – Protects all forms of PHI, including printed materials.
  
• Security Rule – Requires physical and technical safeguards for handling PHI.
  
• Breach Notification Rule – Mandates disclosure of any breach of unsecured PHI, including paper records.
  

If a printed document is left on a tray, misdelivered, or disposed of improperly, it can lead to regulatory penalties — and more importantly, the exposure of sensitive patient data.

HIPAA Print Compliance Checklist

Use this practical checklist to assess whether your print workflows meet HIPAA expectations:

These controls also reflect best practices outlined in NIST SP 800-171 and the HHS Security Risk Assessment Tool.

Common Mistakes That Lead to HIPAA Violations

Even well-meaning teams can fall foul of compliance rules. Examples include:

• Unattended printouts in shared areas.

• Auto-released jobs without authentication.

• Recycling PHI instead of shredding it.

• Shared logins used to access print queues.

• No audit trail available during a compliance check.

And these issues have real consequences:

• Affinity Health Plan was fined $1.2 million after returning leased printers without clearing PHI from internal memory.

• Cignet Health received a $4.3 million fine for failing to provide patients access to their own records — a portion of which involved printed documentation.

More examples: HHS Enforcement Case Summaries

How Secure Print Solutions Can Help

A secure print management solution, like FollowMe, can automate many of the safeguards HIPAA expects:

• Secure pull printing – Documents only print when the authorised user authenticates at the device.
• Audit logging – Tracks all activity tied to specific users and devices.
• End-to-end encryption – Secures print jobs in queue and during transmission.
• Policy enforcement – Enforces restrictions on unauthorised devices or usage patterns.

These systems integrate with identity management tools, cloud-based infrastructure (e.g. Microsoft Universal Print), and are compatible with hybrid working environments — making them ideal for modern healthcare settings.

Final Thoughts

HIPAA compliance isn’t just a digital issue. Print environments are full of unmonitored, unmanaged risk — often hiding in plain sight. But with a few intentional safeguards, healthcare organisations can meet their legal obligations and, more importantly, protect the trust patients place in them.

Want help evaluating your print environment? Contact us to arrange a secure print audit or learn how FollowMe supports HIPAA compliance.