Medical Answering Services—Protecting Patient Confidentiality

Medical answering services have increasingly become popular as doctors and health care professionals find themselves fumbling when it comes to doctor–patient relationship management. Doctors cannot always personally attend calls. Sometimes, as a medical professional, you will find that, the more successful your business, the less time you have for answering patient questions in person, particularly as many of these questions may not be directly related to their health but rather things such as appointments, fees, schedule, insurance claims, and so on.

While it would be great for the doctor to attend patient calls 100 percent of the time, it is not always possible. If you require backup when it comes to attending calls and communicating with patients, the best solution would be to hire medical answering services.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

Don’t select medical answering services randomly. Carefully check if they follow HIPPA regulations. Patient confidentiality is serious business. If your practice violates HIPAA in some way, you could be fined or even jailed. Better safe than sorry—hire medical answering services that are dead serious about following the HIPAA guidelines.

Why HIPAA?

Medical answering services should follow HIPAA rules for two reasons. The first, of course, is to protect the doctor from liability and prevent misuse of confidential information. Second, HIPAA compliance makes patients more confident about their doctors. Many people do not want their medical history to be known widely, and they look for a doctor who is discreet and understands their concerns. If you can assure your patients that your practice, including your phone answering staff, is HIPAA compliant, it reassures patients.

As a doctor who vowed to look after the best interests of your patients, you owe it to them to hire medical answering services that are professional and safe and follow HIPAA guidelines.