If you are a doctor looking for a virtual answering service to handle the after-hour calls from your patients, it is very important for you to make sure that the system you are signing up with ensures 100% HIPAA compliance. HIPAA refers to Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act. The Constitution of the United States of America provides certain legal rights for its citizens HIPAA Compliance Solution, including medical insurance rights and the right to have their personal medical records private and confidential. Therefore, HIPAA certification is legally mandatory for every company that provides answering service to doctors – be it virtual or manual. The certification ensures that the system meets the required standards while handling health issues over Internet, through phone, emails, or text messages.
Privacy Protection
When a virtual answering service is designed with HIPAA compliance in mind, it ensures optimum protection to the privacy of the doctors and the patients. The best thing about a virtual system is that it does not involve any manual work. No third party is allowed to have access to the confidential and sensitive information pertaining to medical records of the patients. However, you cannot expect such protection from a conventional system because of the compulsory manual handling of the calls. No matter how well trained call center executives are in HIPAA terms and conditions, at the end of the day they are still human beings and are very much likely to make mistakes. What if some of them misuse the information? Such acts will not only damage the career of that call center executive but will also hurt your reputation. So, if you do not want to put your reputation at risk, you should always consider a HIPAA-certified virtual answering service. By automating the entire process, these systems guarantee that the vital medical information involved in the process will never leak out in a public domain. The recorded data is 100% safe.
No Third-Party Access To The Recorded Information
There is a complete safety mechanism that is used by the virtual system to ensure no third-party access to the recorded information. Only you or the people authorized by you can get access to the messages, that too, in a way that you have specified. There are many doctors out there who hesitate in using virtual answering service because they fear that the sensitive information may leak out and they may get into trouble. It is very important for you to keep in mind that there are no such risks associated with a virtual system. But yes, if it is a manual call center, even if it is HIPAA certified, it can be a risky venture for you. There are good chances of manual errors, which can make things very problematic for you. It straightaway provides third-party access to the crucial information. So, the risk is obvious.
Overall, only a virtual answering service can help you manage and control the HIPAA compliance requirements of your medical practice thoroughly without any risk.