The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed in 1996 to protect an individual’s right to privacy of personal medical information. So if you are looking to outsource the billing tasks of your radiology practice or department, make sure you go in for radiology medical billing services with HIPAA compliance. This is important as failure to ensure HIPAA compliance can even result in legal action against your facility.
HIPAA Radiology Medical Billing Services
Individual radiologists, group practices, medical clinics, diagnostic facilities and other healthcare facilities in the US are increasingly relying on professional medical billing companies to ensure HIPAA compliance. These companies have special security measures in place to protect patient information in keeping with HIPAA guidelines. The professionals they employ are knowledgeable about HIPAA guidelines. Using advanced medical billing software including NextGen, Lytec, Medisoft, Misys, IDX, Practice Admin and Inception, they ensure HIPAA compliant medical billing solutions for:
- Medical insurance collection
- Medical paper and insurance electronic billing
- Charge entry
- Management of old accounts receivable collections
- Coding
- Cash posting and reconciliation
- Insurance verification and authorization
HIPAA – Protecting All Vital Health Information
All kinds of patient data including name, dates, zip code, e-mail ID, telephone or fax numbers, medical records, health plan and social security information, license numbers, and photographs are ensured completed protection with HIPAA compliant services. The measures to ensure confidentiality of patient information are:
- Workforce trained in HIPAA compliance and bound by confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement
- Systematic backup of data and accessibility of critical facilities
- Anti-virus software and firewall protection on all systems, updated frequently
- Secure workstations, storage facility and authorized access
- Technical evaluations are performed on a routine basis to ensure that security protocols are followed
- File transfer using 128 bit encryption
Thus, a reliable professional service provider that offers radiology medical billing with HIPAA compliance would have all administrative procedures in place to protect patient privacy. Access to confidential information would be limited to the physician and other medical and insurance personnel as necessary.
Julie Clements, OSI’s Vice President of Operations, brings a diverse background in healthcare staffing and a robust six-year tenure as the Director of Sales and Marketing at a prestigious 4-star resort.