HIPAA compliant medical transcription services are offered for multiple medical specialties including cardiology, gastroenterology, general surgery, dermatology, internal medicine, sports medicine, toxicology, obstetrics & gynecology, neurology, nuclear medicine, emergency room, family practice, psychiatry, plastic surgery and geriatrics HIPAA Service. Whenever a healthcare provider approaches an outsourcing company for the transcription requirements of a particular medical specialty, the company assigns it an expert transcription team to handle the project.
Understanding HIPAA Medical Transcription
The HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) ensures that a balance is achieved between essential transfer and use of health information, while safeguarding patient privacy. Under the Act, providers of medical transcription services fall under the tag of business associates. The business associates carry out services on behalf of the healthcare provider (covered entity) and these services would involve the exposure or utilization of individually recognizable health information.
The Act called for the establishment of a Security Rule and Privacy Rule for identifiable health information or PHI (Protected Health Information). While the Privacy Rule is concerned with the privacy of PHI, the Security Rule relates to the protection of electronic PHI. PHI covers personal information such as names, telephone numbers, e-mail address, date of birth, admission, having had a procedure done, discharge, death and other dates, medical record numbers, account numbers, social security numbers, voice, finger prints and other biometric identifiers, photographic images of the complete face or similar images, and more.
How HIPAA Adherence is Achieved
Reliable HIPAA medical transcription services in the US adopt the necessary measures to protect PHI:
- All employees of the company are provided training in the different aspects of HIPAA policy to limit or nullify any possibilities of violation.
- Files containing PHI are encrypted so that only authorized personnel can access them.
- Networks are firewall protected and computers password protected and provided with regularly updated, quality antivirus software.
- The services of subcontractors and work-at-home medical transcriptionists are not used.
- All employees have to sign non-disclosure and privacy agreements. Transcriptionists, administrators and other persons who use sensitive patient data would have got the necessary clearances for the same.
- Employees cannot carry electronic devices, floppies, written or paper documents into and out of the office.
- Damaged and unwanted documents are shredded on site.
- Security personnel are employed on a 24/7 basis.
- Routine technical assessments are carried out to ensure that all security systems are working flawlessly.
- Back-ups of computer saved information are kept under lock and key.
Find a Reliable Provider
When you approach a company that offers HIPAA compliant medical transcription services for multiple specialties, make sure to enquire about the measures they have in place to achieve HIPAA compliance. This will help you determine whether that company provides transcription that adheres to the necessary standards.