If you own a hospital or healthcare center, you need to invest in a HIPAA-compliant answering service to protect your patients’ data. Any practitioner in the healthcare industry has the mandate to protect patient health information (PHI). So, when you pass the mantle to an answering service, you must verify if they comply with the HIPAA rules.
HIPAA compliance in the health sector is a requirement by the law and must not be violated. Every stakeholder must protect the patients’ sensitive data, including the answering service. Unfortunately, not every medical answering service in the industry complies with HIPAA rules. So, how can you identify such companies?
Let’s see how you’ll know that your answering service is HIPAA-compliant. #VoiceLink #HIPAAcompliance #medicalansweringservice Share on XText Protected Health Information
Any answering service that uses standard text messaging to transfer patient health information violates HIPAA regulations. That’s because the standard text messaging is unencrypted, and any hacker can intercept and access the PHI in the text messages. So, ensure that the company receiving your clients’ calls uses encrypted text messaging.
Email Protected Health Information
A HIPAA-compliant answering service must use encrypted emails. Otherwise, it will put emails content at risk of interception by cyberattackers. Besides exposing the patients’ information, it discloses the sender’s and receiver’s identities. For that reason, ensure that an answering service uses encryption methods like TLS encryption to protect data.
Page Protected Health Information
Using an unprotected paging tool exposes the patients’ data to risks. An excellent example of insecure pager is alpha or text paging. That’s because it transmits patients’ data through an unencrypted standard pager. Besides, the standard alpha pager is unprotected by a password. If it goes missing, anyone can access the PHI.
Choosing a Trustworthy HIPAA Compliant Answering Service
Consider hiring an answering service that can protect your patients’ data now that you understand why you need a HIPAA-compliant answering service. Such a company can perform several roles, including appointment scheduling and secure messaging. Your goal is to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Connect with us to learn the benefits of a HIPAA-compliant answering service.