HIPAA Training and Adherence in Medical Call Centers

by

Kurt Duncan

Since the law was enacted, HIPAA training has become mandatory in medical call centers. Of course, the more measures a company takes to safeguard the integrity of your information, the better. Good ones will refresh their employees training on these regulations from time to time, and evaluate their adherence on a regular basis. Those employees should also be required to sign legally binding confidentiality agreements. There should also be other security measures in place. Many of those measures make use of various technologies in order to make your patients’ information safer. Let’s take a look at a few examples of that.

One of the technologies designed to safeguard all of that sensitive medical information has to do with how information is transmitted to you after one of your patients calls in. Unless that information is transmitted securely, it can easily be compromised at this crucial point. Therefore, the use of a secure smart phone application for this type of messaging would be most beneficial. Such a system has another important benefit, too. By not using your cell phone’s text messaging service, the call center can track whether or not you’ve read your messages. That way, they can try other means to contact you if, for example, your cell phone’s battery is low.

The benefits of this type of secure messaging system go even further than that, too. For example, you’re able to update your own status within the system. Our operators will know if you’re in surgery or are otherwise unavailable. If you lose your phone, the app can be locked down, thus protecting you from a potential violation. It works both ways, too. You can transmit encrypted messages either back to the call center, to other employees in your office, or to one of your other medical partners. The best part is that all of these tasks can be carried out in such a way that is one hundred percent HIPAA compliant.

As you’ve seen, HIPAA training itself is just one component of maintaining compliance. In addition to the steps we’ve already outlined, a secure premises is also necessary. Access to the facility itself should be limited to employees only via a key code or pass card system. Before any documents leave such a facility, they should be completely destroyed. Secure digital storage should be utilized, and backup generators should be available in the event of a power failure.

MedConnectUSA

is a leading provider of

medical answering services

and telemessaging services. MedConnectUSA has been serving the health care industry since 1991. MedConnectUSA handles routine and emergency calls for the medical industry only and all calls are answered by HIPAA trained, US operators.

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HIPAA Training and Adherence in Medical Call Centers