HIPAA / HITECH Crackdown

Our federal government will soon be taking more aggressive actions in enforcing the laws of HIPAA / HITECH. These two laws were implemented with the goal of protecting private health information in an age that’s increasingly becoming more electronic and mobile in terms of communication.

This article is a sign of the “crackdown” soon to come from the feds with regard to HIPAA / HITECH and the ways in which it will not only affect the health care provider(s), but their business associates and partners.

Fortunately, we have ways to ensure that we’re protecting the private health information we gather from your patients and callers here at your answering service. With the implementation of

• Secure text messaging – by law, we are not allowed to text insecure messages containing PHI, to alpha pagers or cell phones. With our newly developed Secure Texting App, we can send you a text informing you that you have a new message. Through the App, after entering a secure username and password, you can then remotely log-in to a proprietary server to view your message.
• Encrypted e-mail delivery – by law, we are not allowed to e-mail unencrypted messages containing PHI. With our newly developed encrypted e-mail delivery, we can send you your messages in encrypted form, which you will be able to decrypt and view using our decryption tool, provided to us by our system vendor.

We will ensure that not only we are in compliance with the federal law(s), but you are as well, thus avoiding possible fines that could potentially cost thousands.

For more information on our secure services, please contact us at 1800-606-EASE(3273) or send an e-mail to Client Relations Manager, Ron Wendus – rwendus@edwardsansweringservice.com