Transcription Services

HIPAA Medical Transcription: Reform That Worked

Since the medical transcription industry deals exclusively in the electronic transfer of patient information and data – much of which can be considered sensitive – the strict mandates of The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) need to be upheld. Passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996 as part of a congressional action to reform the healthcare industry, HIPAA created standards designed to improve the efficiency of the nation’s healthcare industry through the improved transmission of patients’ health information files via standard electronic data interchanges. In order to maintain one of the primary objectives of HIPAA – that of guaranteeing the security and privacy of patient health information – all HIPAA medical transcription (MT) service providers must comply with the following requirements:

• Certify the security and confidentiality of a patient’s Protected Health Information (PHI).

• Preserve an audit trail of all individuals with access to any patient PHI files.

In addition to the above-mentioned primary accountabilities, HIPAA medical transcription providers as well as medical service providers need to adhere to the remaining HIPAA objectives; which are as follows:

• Ensure the portability and availability of health insurance for individuals who have recently lost a job or switched employer status; including the guarantee there will no loss in medical-plan coverage due to pre-existing medical conditions

• Strive to eliminate potential abuse and health-care fraud

• Enforce higher standards for health-care and patient-files information

It should be noted that in order for medical transcription providers to become HIPAA compliant, a certain level of information technology (e.g. computer software and hardware applications) must be implemented within their business organization along with skilled professionals to manage these processes. If a MT provider fails to meet the mandated HIPAA requirements, their status as a reputable HIPAA medical transcription service provider will be placed in severe jeopardy. In short, the benefits of compliance [listed below] far outweigh the cost. They are now simply a cost of doing business.

The benefits of HIPAA medical transcription service compliance are:

• Ensures the privacy of sensitive patient health information

• To avoids fines and criminal penalties that could be as high as $250,000

• An increase in patient, medical-service provider, and industry confidence

• An increase in workflow, service-level, and data efficiency

• A reduction in the amount of public exposure (if sensitive PHI files became public)

• Public exposure risk is low

By now, almost 100% of medical transcription service providers are HIPAA compliant. As previously mentioned, HIPAA compliance has simply become a cost of doing business. In the long-run, all parties involved – medical service providers, insurance companies, HIPAA medical transcription service providers, and last but certainly not least, healthcare patients  – have all benefited from the legislation. HIPAA is indeed healthcare reform that has worked!

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