Call Accounting and Recording Solutions for Healthcare Require HIPAA Compliance
June 09, 2016
By Tracey E. Schelmetic
TMCnet Contributor
Many companies today engage in some kind of call accounting. With the increased penetration of unified communications, however, it’s a more difficult job than ever before. Telecom billing is complex, and mistakes – which cost many companies thousands of dollars each year – are common. To better understand telecom service usage, prevent billing errors and keep costs under control, it’s important for any organization to understand how employees are using telephone systems and other communications media. With careful analysis, most organizations can optimize their telecom resources and save money, getting better efficiency out of their unified communication solutions.
In the healthcare industry, however, call accounting becomes even more complex. Regulations such as HIPAA mandate patient privacy and require 100 percent call recording in order to prove compliance. Not all accounting solutions are created the same, and many of them lack this ability to meet HIPAA regulations.
Call accounting solutions providers that are HIPAA certified, such as ISI Telemanagement Solutions (News - Alert), Inc., have had to put their products through rigorous testing to ensure that their solutions are secure and compliant. Compliant solutions providers must undergo periodic risk analysis and vulnerability assessments to be awarded HIPAA compliance. They must prove their solutions prevent the transfer of electronic patient information to unauthorized parties and maintain an “ethical wall” between people or organizations who don’t need all of a patient’s information. They also need to ensure that end users using the product can comply quickly with surveyor inquiries about their compliance.
But call accounting should be about more than a baseline of compliance. These solutions, which work across multiple communications channels in conjunction with a unified communications solution, can help healthcare providers operate a better practice with the ability to:
- Document physician and patient communications;
- Record voice, video, instant messages, and telehealth consultations with patients;
- Monitor and control information flow with ethical wall;
- Document test result calls to patients; and
- Provide evidentiary support in malpractice cases.
ISI, which offers its Infortel Select solution to healthcare providers in addition to companies in a variety of other industries, recently announced that it has gone through a HIPAA recertification through ecfirst and the HIPAA Academy on their most recent risk analysis, which was conducted in April of 2016.
"We are very excited about the recertification by ecfirst,” said Laura Huska, Head of IT for ISI. “HIPAA continues to be a critical certification for ISI as many of our healthcare clients rely on this standard to meet their compliance needs when using ISI’s UC [unified communications] reporting application.”
Using a call accounting and reporting solution that is specifically designed for healthcare and HIPAA compliance can also go a long way in eliminating the footwork necessary to get the most out of telecom resources and ensuring that no costly accidents happen on the road to compliance.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi