HIPAA (also known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) mandates that all kinds of healthcare practices to safeguard the privacy of the personal health information of their patients. Telephone usage also falls under HIPAA guidelines. Electronic personal health information (or ePHI) has to be safeguarded from unauthorized people. Below are four examples of how a healthcare practice can benefit from an HIPAA compliant cloud business phone system:
Provide staff with EHRs and patient information from PMS apps upon incoming calls.
Cloud phone systems are typically integrated with business CRM software so that customer information is recalled instantly. This tool saves office staff precious time when handling insurance claims or making appointments. In terms of HIPAA compliance—which states that patients must be reached only via the numbers that they have previously requested—it displays these provided numbers prominently.
Video calling can extend physician reach to underserved areas and workplaces.
Facetime and Skype are not HIPAA compliant. However, if a healthcare practice purchases a HIPAA-certified cloud business phone system that includes video calling, they can use this feature for better informed consultations.
Video calling aids and encourages use of online patient portals.
Healthcare practices can place Video calling aids in a patient’s online portal. This increases the odds that the patient will actually use it. Once the patient logs into the secure website, they can also schedule appointments, send secure messages to doctors, and view labs.
Easily retrieve voicemails and other call recordings attached to EHRs and PMRs.
Many VoIP services offer call recording, which is growing in popularity among healthcare practices. Call recording can assist in employee training and documentation of remote visits. These recordings must have encryption however, and a HIPAA-certified cloud service is the way to go.
With all of that said however, healthcare practices must remember that HIPAA-certified cloud services are only half the battle. To effectively remain HIPAA compliant, practices must also establish policy, training, and enforcement. If you have any questions regarding disaster recovery or business phone systems, please contact Advanced Communication Systems today at 800-750-3624. You can also follow us on Facebook.
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