Doctors and healthcare workers send patient charts, discharge summaries, prescriptions, lab reports, referrals, insurance forms, and appointment schedules to healthcare printers every day. The printed page is merely a single iteration of that information. Networked multifunction printers (MFPs) can print, copy, scan, fax, email, encrypt, and store patient information when connected to an organization’s network. According to a 2026 study in Sensors, the log might hold private details like the user's name and the titles of printed documents.

Patient names can be protected health information (PHI) when they are associated with information about an individual’s health, healthcare, or payment for care. Printer filenames and job logs can therefore expose PHI when they connect a patient’s identity with the care they receive. Healthcare organizations can limit those extra copies by emailing documents through HIPAA compliant email whenever possible. HIPAA compliant email can reduce the need to create unnecessary paper copies, but organizations must still secure both their email environment and any printers that process sensitive information.

A peer-reviewed article in JMIR Medical Informatics explains, “Electronic protected health information (e-PHI) is PHI that is maintained or transmitted in an electronic media, such as an electronic health record (EHR) or practice management system.” Once documents come out of the printer, the HIPAA Privacy Rule still applies to how staff handle and dispose of that paper document. Providers are responsible for securing the electronic data stored inside the device, paper that passes across the network, and any PHI that leaves it inside patient documents.

 

Why healthcare printers retain patient information

According to the FTC Digital Copier Data Security: A Guide for Businesses, networked copiers use internal hard drives to monitor incoming jobs and handle substantial workloads. The copier's model and setup can lead to the document's image or details about it being saved, either for a short time or indefinitely. Some models also create job logs with user names and document names. Both could contain patient information that is not obviously PHI. By creating extra copies of sensitive data, networked printers can cause staff to assume the information is gone once the scan or print job completes.

Scan-to-email includes another risk when sending documents outside the healthcare network. A clinical email security whitepaper states, “The email message will often be copied to local storage on each computer.” An email may pass through hundreds of server computers before reaching its intended target. Scan-to-email puts PHI on the trusted printer's computer before letting it enter your email infrastructure. Paubox lists scan-to-email as something to plan for under HIPAA security policies, while a separate 2025 report found 60% of healthcare organizations had email security incidents in 2024. Even without directly referencing printer traffic, it makes clear that internal devices aren't automatically secure for email communication. Encryption and access controls can secure that pathway when the printer is properly integrated with a HIPAA compliant email solution.

 

The patient information that can be exposed

A printer is capable of handling and revealing all forms of PHI, such as patient names, medical record numbers, diagnoses, prescriptions, allergies, lab results, treatment outlines, billing summaries, and insurance details. Should the device generate job logs, it could potentially reveal which users printed particular documents and their associated filenames. According to the Sensors study, those functionalities can occasionally be accessed by healthcare providers using the same local network.

Remote job logs and administration portals were accessible by default on one printer model without requiring a username or password. Providers can lessen this threat by changing printer names, restricting who can administer them, updating supported printers, and preventing unwanted network traffic. Organizations can use appropriate media sanitization techniques to make stored data infeasible to recover before a printer is reused, returned, or disposed of.

The paper copies simply weren't shredded or destroyed, as a JAMA study examining recycling at five teaching hospitals observed. They recovered 2,687 documents with personally identifiable information. 1,885 of those documents contained personal health information. “PII and PHI were found in recycling at all hospitals.”

Although this risk was investigated in Canada, HIPAA-covered entities face the same danger when printers enter regular offices and trash bins. Secure-release printing, locked bins for paper destruction, and policies to remind workers about PHI can reduce those risks. HIPAA compliant email gives staff an option to send sensitive documents straight to the intended recipient without making any paper copies at all.

 

When a printer becomes a HIPAA issue

The HIPAA Security Rule can cover medical devices without specifically naming them. Printers that create, receive, maintain, or transmit ePHI should be included in a covered entity’s or business associate’s Security Rule risk management and device-management processes. Covered entities must also have policies for disposal and reuse of electronic media, according to 45 CFR § 164.310. Covered entities and business associates should account for printers that store or process ePHI. Businesses also need access controls, audit controls, integrity controls, and transmission security for those devices, according to 45 CFR § 164.312. Printers become HIPAA risks when they access patient information in electronic form. Leaving them out of security policies or technical assessments only creates more risk.

OCR enforcement includes a notable case involving Affinity Health Plan, which returned leased photocopiers without removing PHI from their hard drives. Affinity agreed to pay $1,215,780 to settle potential HIPAA violations affecting the PHI of up to 344,579 individuals. Medical providers can avoid those mistakes by tracking which vendors service their printers. There should be a responsible employee in writing down what happens to each printer’s storage before it’s leased or returned.

Printer servicing creates a potential business associate relationship, but not automatically. The HHS states that photocopier repair technicians generally are not business associates when they do not need access to PHI to perform their work and any exposure is merely incidental. However, a service provider may qualify as a business associate when its services require it to create, receive, maintain, or transmit PHI on behalf of the covered entity.

 

Securing the entire printer workflow

Healthcare organizations can manage printer risk through a lifecycle approach:

  • Inventory every device: Record its location, owner, storage capabilities, network connections, enabled functions, service vendor, and lease-return date.
  • Limit stored information: Disable unnecessary job retention and configure automatic deletion or overwriting where the device supports it.
  • Control access: Use individual authentication, badge- or PIN-based secure release, restricted administrator accounts, and appropriate activity logging.
  • Harden the network connection: Change default credentials, install supported security updates, restrict access to the management interface, and disable unused services or protocols.
  • Protect scan-to-email: Route messages through an approved HIPAA compliant email environment and verify the security of both the printer-to-mail-server connection and subsequent delivery.
  • Reduce paper exposure: Position printers in controlled areas, collect sensitive pages promptly, confirm recipients before printing, and provide secure disposal containers nearby.
  • Manage outside vendors: Define access limits, security responsibilities, incident reporting, drive ownership, and sanitization requirements in service and lease agreements.
  • Verify end-of-life sanitization: Before repair, reuse, sale, recycling, or lease return, use a method appropriate to the storage media and retain evidence that the information was removed or the media was destroyed.

NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 identifies three media sanitization methods namely Clear, Purge, and Destroy. The appropriate method depends on the sensitivity of the information, the storage technology, and what will happen to the device after sanitization. Cryptographic erasure may be appropriate for supported encrypted storage, but organizations must verify that the selected technique is suitable for the device and intended sanitization method. Simply deleting files or restarting a printer does not sanitize its storage.

Staff practices can also contribute to patient data exposure during printing. “Healthcare staff told us that unclear procedures, lack of training, and time pressure make it hard to fully protect patient privacy,” summarizes a 2026 PLOS Digital Health study. Staff need easy ways to confirm recipients, report lost documents, use secure destruction bins, and choose email destinations instead of printing. Simple instructions near shared printers may help staff remember those safeguards during their daily workflow.

 

FAQs

Can a paper jam leave PHI inside the printer?

Yes, jammed or partially fed pages can contain readable patient information and should be removed, secured, and discarded like any other PHI.

 

Does a printer’s address book count as sensitive data?

It can, because patient email addresses, fax numbers, and referral contacts may reveal identities or healthcare relationships.

 

Can service test pages expose patient information?

Yes, so technicians should use non-PHI test files and place every diagnostic page into secure disposal before leaving.

 

Does scanning a document to a USB drive put that drive within HIPAA scope?

Yes, when the drive stores ePHI it must be managed as electronic media under the organization’s HIPAA safeguards.

 

Can a cloud print-management company be a business associate?

Yes, if the company creates, receives, maintains, or transmits PHI on behalf of a covered entity or another business associate.