Google HIPAA regulations.
Posted By: Seasoned Survivor on 2007-12-25
In Reply to: Same as for you - Patti
Make them sign a contract. I know someone who used to bring the tapes around the neighborhood for people to listen to.People like this spoil it for those of us who absolutely go by the rules and if you are using tapes, be careful with them. Digital or tapes, confidentiality rules apply. Overall, be careful who you deal with, they represent you!
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Posting regulations? nm
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New regulations. Please read. sm
According to IDES, the three items that must be met in addition to the IRS guidelines are:
1. The person must have a company name, a federal tax ID number and hold themselves out for additional accounts. This must be done through formal advertising, brochures, etc. Business cards are not sufficient.
2. They must not receive any control at all, including but not limited to training, formatting, set hours, equipment, software or instruction on how or when or where the work is to be performed.
3. THE IC MUST NOT PERFORM THE DUTIES THAT EMPLOYEES ARE PERFORMING. They must be doing something completely different.
They can go back 4 years and have you fill out a 3-page form explaining each 1099 that you have given out and if they decide that they were actually employees, then you will have to pay the money that you would have paid to IDES plus fines and interest.
They are specifically targeting transcription as they say that transcriptionists, by the very nature of what they do, are employees not ICs.
This is probably the beginning of the end of MTSOs utilizing ICs. You might want to look into it.
http://www.ides.state.il.us/info/pubs/idesrules.pdf. Starts on page 67.
State regulations sm
Well, I have to disagree. I was counseled by my attorney and accountant, as an IC, working at home, regulations go by the state I perform the work in, (home state as I work from home), not the state the company is in.
For instance, I live in PA, my accounts are in Florida. My accounts would follow PA regulation, not Florida's. I had an issue come up, a very important one about pay issuance and taxes, sought legal counsel and that is how I know it to be the truth.
Production-paid employees have different laws and regulations. nm
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Yep, google has it goin on... I really like the google earth...
Have you tried Google earth? You can type in any address, street, city, state, country, etc. and it will zoom in and show the area and then you can hit the + button and zoom right in and see the exact house, building, etc. that you are looking for.
Mainly Google; I google the known words in the phrase (sm)
That's my most frequent tactic if I don't find the word in my word books. I'll play with leaving certain words out and adding them in, in various combinations, to try to get a hit that has a word which sounds like my blank. If I get a hit, I'll Google WITH that word, and see what hits I get, and what their source is (i.e.,checking the sources out for reliability). When I say 5 sites or searches, I mean I don't often try more than 5 different combinations without a serious hit. If I get a hit, then I will spend a little more time checking that out before I give up.
If it's a drug name, I use RxList, or more frequently the Drugs.com website. Since they redid RxList, I haven't found one that has quite as good a wildcard search, but Drugs.com works okay most of the time.
If it's a place name (like when they give names of outlying outreach clinics and etc.) I'll use Mapquest and look up the city my hospital is in, then "pan out" and look at the outlying towns.
Hope that's what you're looking for. I do have bookmarks, but I find that even the ones I think I'll visit again, I waste more time doing that than with an intelligent google search. An example is the time I was looking for "banana bag." The only place I managed to find it with a degree of reliability was on a nurses' message board. I've found quite a bit sometimes on the various specialty message boards out there, but I think the quickest way to locate that is through a search engine rather than bookmarking each individual site and trying to figure out which ones to search for a particular term.
Thank you, Google God. My google icon is
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That is against HIPAA
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What about HIPAA?
 Our hospital is adamant about no accounts going offshore. Not only because of quality, but also privacy, lawsuits, etc. ESPECIALLY after what happened a couple years ago between UCSF Hospital and sub-sub-contractor in India. (MT there who got gypped in pay held accounts for "ransom".)
HIPAA
Some in the office I work in said there are HIPAA rules that apply to transcription, such as font size, etc. Does anyone know about this and where I can get more information.
Thanks
HIPAA and cc - what to do? sm
If doctor wants carbon copy sent, I'm told it's a violation of HIPAA rules. Please tell me where I can find this on the Internet. Thanks.
Why would that be against HIPAA?
I have to save my files at least through the invoice period anyway. Why would it be against HIPAA to run them through IT?
I'm not the OP, but yes, there is a HIPAA (sm)
violation if you keep copies of patient reports on your hard disks in a form where the patient is identifiable.
What I do to make my normals and IT glossaries is cut/paste a copy of the body of each report, with no info to identify the patient, into wordpad and save under the dictator's name (such as jones hysterectomy, smith HP, etc).
HIPAA
There is nothing in HIPAA that says this information cannot be in the record. What it says is that IF you need to de-identify the information for any reason, all of those things must be removed. Probably not the best policy to have but not a HIPAA violation.
HIPAA
I was recently hired as an employee at a doctors office and we have been discussing taking my MT work home. It is all on hard copy except for occasional e-mails I need to send to the office to download. What do I need to be doing to comply with HIPAA?
HIPAA req.
I use encrypted e-mail through CryptoHeaven, cryptoheaven.com. They have a bunch of different packages and well priced. All work must be kept confidential and protected as much as possible (lock box for saved work on CDs). I keep all patient lists only to type and then they are shredded. Make sure if you are faxing pt lists back and forth, you are using a front fax cover sheet with a statement on it regarding confidentiality, etc. (your doctor's office probably uses this when sending stuff from their office). I also have the ability to lock my office when there are parties, etc. at the house just to be on the safe side.
It's HIPAA............nm
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I don't know about HIPAA.... sm
But I wonder why they were asking you all those questions? The only thing I remember when enrolling my son was making sure his shots were up to date. Of course, we are talking a long time ago!
I don't understand why a kindergarten would need such a thorough medical history on their students. HIPAA or not, it sounds like invasion of privacy to me.
It's HIPAA
It's HIPAA, not HIPPA, and the provisions are only enforceable within the US.
There are free HIPAA courses online; you don't have to become certified, just become familiar with it so your work area, computer, etc. are compliant. Should be mandatory learning for all MTs.
it's HIPAA, not HIPPA. nm
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HIPAA Compliance ?
Does anyone have any knowledge about a US MT typing from home and any HIPAA compliance violations if this MT also types from a 2nd residence in a different state for part of the year?
HIPAA response
HIPAA has more to do with the confidentiality of a patient's information. It has nothing to do with what residence you transcribe from, as long as you maintain the confidentiality of the patient's information. The company you work for may have some sort of requirement that you notify them if you'll be working from a location other than the location that they have on record for you.
Is it HIPAA compliant?
That certainly does sound like a great solution! You are right, I would probably want them to zip their files anyway since I have only dial-up available to me at home and would need it at a CG if I ever get to that point in my life.
Thank you for your feedback. It is sincerely appreciated.
HIPAA rules
A lot of the national transcription services have many accounts where the hospitals/docs still want the name of the patient in the body of the report and do not want "the patient" in the body of the report. So the facilities still respect what the doctors want.
It's HIPAA and you pronounce it hip-uh.
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By the waq, it should be brEAch of HIPAA. nm
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HIPAA at the Hosptial
Was at the hospital yesterday for some radiology testing. To summon me from the waiting area (full of other patients), the person who does the registrations used my first and LAST NAME! Bleah!
Then, after I was registered and back in the waiting area, another patient entered, sat beside me, and said "So, you're here for the same thing I am--I heard you mention it when you were being registered. I was in the next cubicle."
Shortly after this a different hospital employee summoned another patient from the waiting area using first AND LAST NAME! EEEK!
What on Earth ever happened to the HIPAA regulations? HIPAA applies to the hospital setting, right?
Any suggestions?
HIPAA is a joke
as long as these private records continue to travel overseas beyond the reach of the long arm of U.S. courts and law enforcement.
It's not a HIPAA violation for sure. Can you
have the account use digital recorders that are uploaded to your FTP site? Bypass the TASP entirely. Or if you are the only transcriptionist, you can use Bytescribe's E-shuttle. Check it out at bytescribe.com
Ack, misspelled HIPAA!
I really do know how to spell HIPAA correctly, except when I'm being an airhead, sheesh!
HIPAA and Outsourcing
How can outsourcing to an offshore company, where a patient's sensitive personal and medical information is concerned, be HIPAA complient? Shouldn't we as patients have the right to know if our medical info and personal data are being sent via the Internet to a foreign country? Shouldn't we as patients be asked to sign a release/agreement to such a practice, notifiying us of this? I have never asked my doctor/hospital if they outsourced to offshore companies...but I will now. Wonder if I'll get a truthful answer.
According to HIPAA, SS# are not to be on reports.
p
SSN is not a HIPAA issue here
HIPAA, health information, SSN is not health information, no way relates. SSN would be a schools way to verify date of birth and U.S. citizenship.
The joys of HIPAA
Or you could just activate a password-protected screen saver on the machine any time you needed to take a BR break and there was anyone with a 5-county radius of wherever your machine was. Even the hospitals do that. I have to laugh at HIPAA sometimes. They're so worried someone might find out someone else has hemorrhoids, when most of the violations actually prosecuted that I've seen have involved hospital employees who had a legitimate right to see the patient demographics but used their position to perpetrate identity theft. Hey, if somebody is dying of cancer, they might be dead before anyone notices the unauthorized spending spree.
HIPAA is a joke
Sorry, but I edit reports for a large department in a major medical center that are all transcribed, you guessed it, overseas. Names, medical record numbers, Social Security numbers, etc., etc., are ALL included. Nobody truly follows HIPAA where I work. I even had to bring a shredder in from home to shred patient info sheets sent to me from the doctors' offices. Not only that, but patient letters WITH identifying information are e-mailed back and forth all the time without encryption. Until HIPAA is actually enforced by anybody, I'm afraid nothing will ever change.
HIPAA compliance
I am thinking about trying to get my own accounts and am trying to plan for all types of scenarios. For various reasons, I am not able to pick up and drop off tapes. Obviously, digital would be the best way to go. However, if a doctor absolutely wanted to use tapes, would it be a HIPAA violation to ship the tapes certified (requiring signature) via USPS or UPS? What about the completed reports? I had two physicians in the past who refused to go digital and I ended up having to stop working for them because it was becoming increasingly difficult to pick up and drop off tapes. What are your thoughts? TIA. 
A DB does not violate HIPAA
Contrary to what you may have heard, the HIPAA regulations of 2003 address the medical transcription field only in passing. There is no extended discussion of the transcription field. On reading the entire thing, the (few) mentions of medical transcription appear almost as after-thoughts.
What those regulations state concerning medical transcription is that the Transcriptionist (or the MTSO) must take reasonable care (their terminology) in safeguarding the confidentiality of the records.
This has been interpreted by the leaders in the medical transcription field to mean:
1) The MT's computer is safeguarded so that unauthorized persons don't have access to her files.
2) Any electronic communication of those records is done in a secure fashion.
Now, I am fully aware that some MTSOs do not allow the completed report to remain on the MTs computer. That is their right. But to hear them state that such is a requirement of HIPAA is wrong. It is not. It is a requirement of THEIR implementation of HIPAA, not a requirement of HIPAA.
For an MT to have a database of the patients she transcribes is completely within HIPAA. However, she must ensure that others do not have access to her computer / files. That is HIPAA.
Merrry Christmas,
Vann Joe
Why surprised? Have said all along HIPAA is a
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Violating HIPAA?
You're not serious are you? There is no HIPAA violation at the eye doctor. When you go to the eye doctor everyone knows you have bad eyes. Do you wear glasses? Are you hiding the fact that you can't see? Please! It isn't like sitting in a doctors office when no one knows what is wrong with you. You're a joke! Get a life! You're the reason everything costs so darn much. The rest of us have to pay the docs insurance because of morons like you. I cannot even believe you would post such nonsense.
Everything you wanted to know about HIPAA
See link below, & especially important are the "HIPAA Regulations & Standards" links.
Happy reading.
This is HIPAA compliant? nm
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opps sorry, HIPAA
Sorry
HIPAA no-no today
I went to one of the many Quest Diagnostics labs today for routine labs. There was a clipboard, where everyone signed in. While it didn't matter to me based on the work we do, it did jump out at me. The lady who was working in the front was maybe also a phlebotomist (maybe they've had lay-offs, too?), but it just dawned on me that they didn't secure our names. I was about #10 on the list, so all the names above mine were right there. In fact, I thought I saw one of our State Reps. in there until he looked up, and I knew it wasn't him.
Anyone else notice this stuff? Just curious, that's all.
HIPAA isn't enforced here in the U.S.
I know of a few local doctors who are still working from tapes. They not only send the tapes home with the MT but the patient files as well. Yes - the entire file folder which has ALL insurance and personal information on it. I've reported this two years ago and he is still doing it.
It's HIPAA, not HIPPA (nm)
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HIPAA is like the banks - there is NO
I called a doctor's office and got medical information on my Ex husband - yes Ex husband. Hospitals and doctor's offices hire alot of incompetent people to handle confidential information and these people don't have clue. With this issue being so widespread - to you really think they care about MTs jobs and the information being shipped overseas? Try this - call a hospital and pretend to be Dr. X from X Medical Center in Santa Monica, California (or anywhere...just google and choose). You can get information easily. Did you ever see the shows where John/Jane Doe go into a hospital and work as a doctor and they never have been to medical school? Happens more than you know and it's horrifying!
That would be HIPAA laws....nm
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Well I wasn't referring to HIPAA. Do you think
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I found out it is HIPAA compliant. :) (nm)
Faxing and HIPAA concerns
I need to know the regulations imposed by HIPAA for MTSOs faxing medical reports to referring doctors. Thanks.
HIPAA faxing guidelines
Fax only when necessary, always verify fax number and ALWAYS use cover sheet. Do not fax hypersensitive PHI. 
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