Avoid HIPAA Violation When Releasing Medical Records
With so many ways that a HIPAA violation can occur when releasing medical records, it is important to develop a plan for how to avoid these types of costly situations from impacting your reputation and your bottom line. This article looks briefly at some ways a HIPAA violation can occur as well as some top strategies to make sure these do not happen to your business.
Most Common HIPAA Violations
Do these situations sound familiar?
- Medical records are faxed to the wrong office or mailed to the wrong person.
- Duplicate medical records were found so one set was tossed in the trash.
- A security breach occurred in your office and files were tampered with or taken.
- Office staff mixes up paperwork between medical records file, switching one set of documents for another medical records file.
If they do, then you may be at risk for breaking one of the many rules and regulations connected to HIPAA. These are not situations you want to experience in your office. HIPAA was established to protect personal data and confidential medical information in both paper and electronic format. And, it is enforced for the very reasons listed above that have happened on an all-too frequent basis.
Strategies to Minimize a HIPAA Violation
This means that you have to think about a set of risk management practices to minimize these types of common mistakes and egregious errors. One of the most common ways to lower your risk of violations is to partner with an outsource company. Here’s how they can avoid the above violations on your behalf:
- They automate their system by incorporating state-of-the-art technology and use a sophisticated quality control process that monitors medical records storage, indexing, scanning, and release. This reduces the impact that human error can have on the overall release of medical records.
- They utilize complex security mechanisms, combining firewalls, passwords, encryption and high-level background checks of all staff.
- Most important of all, they accept the liability risk on your behalf, assuming responsibility for any type of HIPAA violation that might occur. Of course, because this risk transfers onto them, they make sure that all their processes and staff know what can lead to a violation so they know what to avoid when they decide and act on the release of information process for a medical office.
In Summary
No medical office wants to be faced with violations that cost money and impact a reputation that has been built up over many years. Here’s a summary of the ways in which violations related to HIPAA can occur but be avoided:
- Human errors can lead to medical records being sent to the wrong person or place or with duplication and inaccurate medical records keeping. All of these violate a person’s right to privacy.
- Security breaches can lead to critical information ending up in the hands of those with criminal intent. Identity theft and other personal data crimes can then be blamed on the medical office that allowed such private information to leak.
- Working with an outsource company can help reduce risks and transfer liability onto the outsource partner. The level of technology, expertise, and training that the outsource partner provides serves as a best practices approach to handling medical records release.
Fig Gungor is CEO of OneSource Document Management, a New York based company that offers a broad range of customized copy and scanning services that translate into a significant savings for insurance companies, hospitals and large medical facilities.