HIPAA Compliance Extends to Third Party Medical Services

Posted by Olovanderson on May 18th, 2018

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a law that establishes regulations over several different areas in the medical and insurance industries. One of the most well-known aspects is the protection of patient privacy regarding the use, transmission and communication of data which all medical facilities must adhere to regardless of size, specialty or location. In addition, any third-party vendor that would be involved in the above processes would also be required to meet the same standards and regulations.

When choosing the best medical answering services this is a feature that must be considered because any gaps or compliance failures could be brought back to the practice with legal ramifications. It is important to carefully review the vendor service options, their process, how they protect privacy and check out external customer ratings for negative comments and violations. The company should be able to accurately and clearly represent their established standards and how they meet these standards in cooperation with the client’s abilities as well.

One good way to get firsthand experience with the best medical answering services that you are considering is to try a free demo if the same is offered. This should not require any financial information and should be valid for about two weeks to get an idea of how calls are prioritized, routed and the various features that patients and staff members have access to. Pricing should be flat and affordable regardless of volume so the practice can have a fixed budget line item and not have to be concerned with the monthly influx of calls that happen according to the season. You should never sacrifice quality for cost but nor should you have to choose one or the other when there are top ranked services that offer both. Take time to look over the options and see who ranks best on all three of these factors so that you can have a reliable communication system in place for after-hours, days off and lunch breaks. Patients are more comfortable with a medical practice that can be reached any time of day or night while doctors still need to maintain their privacy and only receive urgent calls that truly need their immediate attention. Everything else can be documented and routed to the office per the custom plan that is setup when the client decides to use the service full-time. No contract is needed but can be available depending on the exact nature of the preferences and schedule. Compare multiple options before making a final decision and use a service that can expand and grow with the practice in the future so you don’t have to make a switch later on.

A medical practice has a heavy responsibility towards patients related to their health diagnosis, treatment, billing and communication. Adhering to HIPAA is not a ‘maybe’ but an absolute ‘must’ so any third party vendor should be held to the same regulations to avoid potential breaches, gaps and violations which can adversely affect the reputation and community relationship with patients.

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