Why It’s Important To Have A HIPAA-Compliant Phone System If You Own Or Manage A Health Care Practice

HIPAA compliance is the most important factor when you are setting up the phone system for your health care practice. Your staff members will likely have hundreds of patient interactions each week that you are open for business, and they will discuss privileged information or protected information during most of these calls. If you do not have the right phone system in place at your practice, you could be exposing your patients and your business to unnecessary risk.

Making sure that you have the proper protections in place to keep patient information truly private matters. Let’s look closer at the reasons that you need to have HIPAA compliance at the top of your list of considerations when it comes to office communications.

Why You Need to Have a HIPAA-Compliant Phone System at Any Healthcare Entity Location

HIPAA compliance is required of all healthcare businesses, no matter what kind of services they provide to patients. Staff should be trained on the requirements and regulations that are part of HIPAA, and the office should be structured such that HIPAA rules can be followed at all times. Having the right technology in place can go a long way toward making sure that HIPAA guidelines are maintained at your healthcare business, and phone systems are often the first line of defense against instances where PHI is mishandled.

This guide will help you understand why investing in a quality phone system is so critical for your healthcare company.

1.     Protects Patient Confidentiality

Proper HIPAA-compliant phone systems like Telzio.com offer you access to encryption and other essential technologies that secure your phone calls, voicemails, and text messages from exposure to data thieves or other patients and doctors who should not be aware of them. The rule of thumb when it comes to HIPAA is to ensure that the bare minimum number of people interact with information that is specific to each patient. Having a quality phone system in place reduces the risk of sharing PHI without patient approval.

2.     Protects Against Legal Penalties

HIPAA requires specific actions, behaviors, and workflows on the part of medical practices of all kinds. You must comply with these practices and regulations if you want to stay open for business and avoid hefty fines. Even small data leaks or issues with incorrectly transmitted or shared PHI can lead to legal penalties that can be costly and that can embroil your practice in legal cases that might last for years.

3.     Enhances Patent Trust

Patients need to be able to trust that your clinic keeps their safety and well-being in mind at all times. You cannot expect patients to flock to a clinic that has a reputation for sharing private health information incorrectly, data leaks, hacking incidents, and other patient information breaches.

 Businesses that want to thrive in the healthcare space need to be focused on fostering patient trust and ensuring that patient information is handled correctly every single day.

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4.     Secures Internal Communications

Many healthcare entities forget that they also share patient information that is private with one another. Phone calls within your office, sharing patient charts back and forth to different departments of your clinic, and discussing patient cases with other coworkers are all instances where PHI can be mismanaged.

When you do not keep secure internal communications, you risk sharing PHI with people in the lobby, nurses, or other staff who are not involved in the case, and other patients who are waiting to be seen by the physicians and other care providers. Having secure phone communication within the office is just as important as utilizing it for outreach to patients and other healthcare entities.

5.     Improves Remote Workforce Communications

Many healthcare businesses utilize remote workers for things like billing and even for scheduling appointments. You need to be able to promise your patients that the remote staff that you work with during daily business operations are also following HIPAA rules and regulations when they are communicating with the office, patients, and external healthcare entities.

Remote work is becoming increasingly common, and it often saves money and time for healthcare entities. You cannot compromise on HIPAA compliance even when it comes to your remote teams of workers. Having a proper, well-designed phone system will protect PHI when it has to be shared with remote staff for essential business processes.

6.     Allows Telehealth Visits to be Possible

Telehealth is becoming increasingly common for small complaints. The pandemic highlighted how critical it is to ensure that people with colds and flus are not brought into common waiting areas to share illnesses with others. The rise of improved security within technology also makes it possible to avoid long waiting times at the doctor’s office and the increased demand and burden on the healthcare system, just to tackle minor complaints.

If you have a quality, HIPAA-compliant phone system in place at your office, you can offer telehealth visits, which can save your doctors and patients lots of time and stress. Being able to call in and simply chat with a doctor about a cold that might be a sinus infection, or refilling a prescription, can save everyone time and money and also improve PHI protection.

Operating a HIPAA-Focused Healthcare Business is Key

No matter what kind of medical care you are providing for your patients, you are required to comply with HIPAA considerations, regulations, and rules. You need to be sure that PHI is not being leaked to anyone who should not have access to it, and you need to be certain that your office technology cannot be accessed by bad actors.

Making the investment to protect your patients and your business from the mismanagement of PHI is important, and you should have this essential at the forefront of every decision that you make for your business. If you are ready to upgrade the phone system at your clinic or medical facility, be sure that you choose a phone system that was created with medical entities and PHI protection in mind. 

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