HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM (HIS) HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE HIS PROJECT TEAM. How To Communicate with the HIS Project Team

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1 How To Communicate with the HIS Project Team This guide is intended to provide you with support for communicating with the HIS Project Team. There may be instances where the HIS Project Team will require additional information from your local agency. This additional information may include protected health information (PHI); therefore, this resource will provide the necessary steps for submitting PHI to the HIS Project Team. In this document, you will learn how to: Identify what is Protected Health Information Communicate with the HIS Project Team Protected Health Information Fax Protected Health Information Download TrueCrypt encryption software Encrypt files using TrueCrypt Protected Health Information (PHI) Before discussing the process of communicating with the HIS Project Team, it is important that you understand what constitutes Protected Health Information (PHI). According to ConsumerAllianceUSA.org, protected health information means individually identifiable health information collected electronically, orally, or via paper. Protected health information includes information such as the patient s name, social security number, telephone number, medical record number, address, including ZIP code as well as medical records. The Privacy Rule protects certain information that covered entities use and disclose. This information is called protected health information (PHI), which is generally individually identifiable health information that is transmitted by, or maintained in, electronic media or any other form or medium. This information must relate to 1) the past, present, or future physical or mental health, or condition of an individual; 2) provision of health care to an individual; or 3) payment for the provision of health care to an individual. If the information identifies or provides a reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify an individual, it is considered individually identifiable health information. IMPORTANTE NOTE: If your electronic communication with the DHHS Customer Support Center contains PHI, you are required to protect the document. At a minimum, you must password protect your document prior to ing the document to the HIS Project Team. It is recommended to encrypt your data as this provides a greater level of security than using the password feature in Microsoft Word. -fax-phi-v doc Page 1 of 18

2 Communicating with the HIS Project Team All communication directed to the HIS Project Team must be initiated through the DHHS Customer Service Center so that a Remedy ticket can be created for this issue/question. The Remedy ticket ensures a streamline mechanism for capturing and addressing issues/questions, and helps to minimize the risk of your issues/questions not being addressed. The steps below outline the communication process. 1. Submit your HIS comment/question/issue to the DHHS Customer Service Center. DHHS.Customer.Support.Center@dhhs.nc.gov 2. Telephone Number: , option 5 3. DHHS Customer Service Center will input your request in the Remedy system, which will generate a ticket. This ticket will be assigned to the appropriate HIS Help Desk person. You will receive notification that a Remedy ticket has been created. 4. If additional information is needed, you will be contacted by the HIS Project Team. NOTE: If the HIS Project Team requires additional information, a Help Desk member will contact you via or phone. 5. or fax the additional information to the HIS Project Team, if requested. -fax-phi-v doc Page 2 of 18

3 ing PHI Due to privacy rules, protected health information (PHI) cannot be distributed through or online file sharing sites without being protected. At a minimum, you MUST password protect your files using the password protection feature in Microsoft Word. The HIS Project Team encourages that you encrypt PHI as this provides a greater level of security. To ensure that encrypted PHI is accessible to all necessary persons, the HIS Project Team has identified a free encryption software (TrueCrypt) to be used. NOTE: If the information requested does not contain PHI, you do not need to password protect or encrypt the file. 1. Protect/encrypt your file if the additional information requested contains PHI. NOTE: See the steps below for protecting your file using MS Word Password Protection option or using the recommended encryption option. 2. Respond to the submitted to you requesting the additional information. 3. Attach the encrypted PHI file to the Submit the . ing PHI Password Protected document 1. Open the MS Word document to be protected. 2. Select Tools > Options from the menu. The Options dialog box will display. 3. Select the Security tab in the Options dialog box. 4. In the Filing Sharing Options section, enter a password in the Password to open field. ing PHI Encryption procedure (Recommended) 1. Download and install TrueCrypt. 2. Follow the TrueCrypt step-by-step instructions. Note: Use the standard password. If you are not familiar with the standard password, contact DHHS Customer Service. 5. Click OK. 6. Re-enter the password in the Confirm Password dialog box and click OK. 7. Save and close the document. -fax-phi-v doc Page 3 of 18

4 Faxing PHI All agencies, including the HIS Project Team should have internal procedures for handling faxes in a timely manner and the physical location of the fax machine should be in a secured area. HIS Project Fax: Prepare a cover letter that identifies the following: Contact Person Contact Number and/or Number of pages included in the fax 2. Submit the fax to the HIS Project Team. 3. The requesting member of the HIS Project Team will contact you with receipt of the requested fax. If you have not received confirmation, please contact the DHHS Customer Service Center. TrueCrypt - Download TrueCrypt is a free open-source disk encryption software for Windows (7, Vista, and XP), MAC OS X and Linux. Visit the TrueCrypt website to download the executable file. CAUTION Please note that no employee shall install TrueCrypt without prior approval from your agency s Director and/or IT office. Please refer to your local computer use policy for additional procedures/requirements related to downloading software to agency computers. -fax-phi-v doc Page 4 of 18

5 TrueCrypt Step-by-Step Instructions TrueCrypt is a free encryption software application that is used by the HIS Project Team and the HIS vendor. The intent of TrueCrypt is to allow local agencies, the HIS Project Team and the HIS vendor to communicate and troubleshoot issues as needed. The steps outlined below will provide you instructions on how to use TrueCrypt. For more detail information, please visit the TrueCrypt Documentation page. 1. Double-click the TrueCrypt shortcut icon on your Desktop. The TrueCrypt main window displays. NOTE: If no shortcut exists, go to Start > Programs > TrueCrypt > TrueCrypt to initiate the application. Figure 1: TrueCrypt Main Window -fax-phi-v doc Page 5 of 18

6 2. Click. The TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard displays. Figure 2: TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard 3. Leave the default selection Create an encrypted file container selected. 4. Click. The Volume Type window displays. Figure 3: TrueCrypt Volume Type window 5. Leave the default selection Standard TrueCrypt volume selected. -fax-phi-v doc Page 6 of 18

7 6. Click. The Volume Location window displays. Figure 4: TrueCrypt Volume Location window -fax-phi-v doc Page 7 of 18

8 7. Click. The Specify Path and File Name dialog box displays. NOTE: Consider a volume to be equivalent to a folder. You must create a volume to store files that you want encrypted. In Figure 5, My Documents is where we will be creating our volume. You are not required to use the My Document folder. The key is to remember where you save your volume. Figure 5: Specify Path and File Name dialog box 8. Enter the name of your volume file in the File name field. NOTE: For these steps, a volume called Instruction is created. Figure 6: Specify Path and File Name dialog box File name field -fax-phi-v doc Page 8 of 18

9 9. Click. The Volume Location window displays with the volume location noted. Figure 7: TrueCrypt Volume Location window 10. Click. The Encryption Options window displays. Figure 8: TrueCrypt Encryption Options window 11. Leave the default settings in the Encryption Options window. -fax-phi-v doc Page 9 of 18

10 12. Click. The Volume Size window displays. NOTE: The Volume Size window is where you will specify your volume size. For our example 1 GB will be used. Your volume size is dependent upon the files you place within the volume. Remember, your volume is a container. You will eventually place the files that require encryption within this container. Figure 9: TrueCrypt Volume Size window 13. Enter your volume size and select the appropriate size category (i.e., KB, MB or GB). -fax-phi-v doc Page 10 of 18

11 14. Click. The Volume Password window displays. Figure 9: TrueCrypt Volume Password window 15. In the Password field, enter the standard password. 16. In the Confirm field, enter the standard password again. NOTE: If you are not familiar with the standard password, please contact the Customer Service Center at option Click. The TrueCrypt Volume Created Wizard dialog box displays due to the short password entered in steps 15 and 16. Click the Yes button to continue. The Volume Format window displays. Figure 10: TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard dialog box -fax-phi-v doc Page 11 of 18

12 18. Move your mouse randomly over the Volume Format window. NOTE: This mouse movement strengthens the encryption keys for your volume. You only need to move your mouse for approximately 5 10 seconds over the Volume Format window. Figure 11: TrueCrypt Volume Format window 19. Click. NOTE: In the Volume Format window, the system will begin formatting your newly created volume. Once complete, you will receive a TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard dialog box indicating the process is successfully complete. Click the OK button to continue. Figure 12: TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard dialog box -fax-phi-v doc Page 12 of 18

13 20. The Volume Created window displays, which indicates that you have successfully created a volume. Click to close the TrueCrypt Wizard. NOTE: The TrueCrypt Main Window is now visible. 21. Select a Drive from the TrueCrypt Main Window. NOTE: For this example, the M drive is selected. You can select any drive listed in the Main window when performing these steps. Figure 14: TrueCrypt Main Window Drive selection -fax-phi-v doc Page 13 of 18

14 22. Select. The Select a TrueCrypt Volume window displays. NOTE: Return to the location where you created your volume. In the earlier steps, we created a volume in My Documents. In Figure 15, the Instruction volume is now available to add any files that require encryption. Again, your volume is a container. All files that require encryption should be included within the volume. Figure 15: Select a TrueCrypt Volume window 23. Select your volume file. NOTE: For this instruction, a volume called Instruction was created and is selected. -fax-phi-v doc Page 14 of 18

15 24. Click. The TrueCrypt Main Window displays. NOTE: In the Volume field, the volume file location path is now visible. Figure 16: Select a TrueCrypt Main Window 25. Click. The Enter password dialog box displays. NOTE: Mounting allows you to add files to the volume. You will not be able to add files unless the volume file is mounted. This is an important step as this is how your files become encrypted. Figure 17: TrueCrypt Enter password dialog box -fax-phi-v doc Page 15 of 18

16 26. Enter the password you created for this volume in step 15 and click. NOTE: The TrueCrypt Main Window displays. The virtual disk is entirely encrypted (including file names, allocation tables, free space, etc.) and behaves like a real disk. You can save (or copy, move, etc.) files to this virtual disk and they will be encrypted on the fly. Figure 18: TrueCrypt Main Window -fax-phi-v doc Page 16 of 18

17 27. Save the file(s) that require encryption to the virtual drive.. NOTE: Once mounted, a new virtual drive is available on your computer. Saving a file to this virtual drive follows the same process as if you were saving a file to your C: drive or shared network drive. You can access this virtual drive only when you have mounted the virtual drive. The M: drive was selected for this instruction. You may have a different virtual drive letter depending upon the virtual drive you selected in step 21. Figure 19: Virtual M: Drive -fax-phi-v doc Page 17 of 18

18 28. After saving all files to the virtual drive that require encryption, click. NOTE: When you dismount, you close your virtual drive. When the virtual drive is closed, the files within your volume are now inaccessible. The TrueCrypt Main Window displays. Figure 19: TrueCrypt Main Window 29. You may now distribute your volume file, which contains PHI to the appropriate person or team. NOTE: In the earlier steps provided, the Instructions volume was saved in the My Documents folder. You can access the volume and attach it to either an , burn to a CD/DVD or upload the volume file to an online file sharing site as the PHI information is now encrypted. All files placed within the encrypted Volume will automatically be included. Access to the encrypted volume can be done outside of TrueCrypt; however, no one will be able to enter the encrypted volume without TrueCrypt and correct password. ***End of Document*** -fax-phi-v doc Page 18 of 18