Medical Transcription Outsourcing
Is outsourcing of patient records really unsafe?
There have been serious doubts about data security while outsourcing medical transcription. The case of Lubna Baloch from Pakistan who threatened to expose confidential data over the Internet for non-payment for services rendered has been used as an argument against outsourcing.
It is understandable that situations like this are worrisome and very traumatic for all parties concerned. But can this be cited as a case against outsourcing? To answer that question one needs to look at the case in question in great detail.
Let us examine the chain of events that led to the event in question:
UCSF medical Center outsourced its medical transcription work to
Sausalito’s Transcription Stat, who outsourced it to
15 contractors throughout the country
One of the 15 contractors named Sonya Newburn further subcontracted the work to
Tom Spires who subcontracted to
Lubna Baloch
It can clearly be seen that the healthcare facility originally outsourcing its transcription needs had no idea as to who is actually doing their work. Even the service provider who was under contract with them had no control over the end transcriber.
The lesson to be learnt from this situation is that while outsourcing the medical transcription needs of a healthcare facility, care should be taken to ensure to choose a service provider that does not use sub contractors for executing the work. Due diligence on the working methods of the service provider should be carried out; care should be taken at the time of drafting the contract to ensure that the “no sub contractor clause” is included.
While outsourcing one should choose a service provider that believes it is their privilege to be serving their customers’ needs in the best way possible. So any work outsourced to the service provider, is executed by their own team of trained transcriptionists, than by the use of subcontractors or home transcriptionists.
Apart from ensuring that the data never leaves the premises physically, the service provider should ensure data security by incorporating security measures like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security, safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedure and multi modal alerts.
Medical transcription outsourcing
Further security needs to be ensured by manned security at entry and exit points, surveillance cameras, disallowance of any removable storage devices and limited access of systems and information on a need to know basis. The people working on the transcription need to be educated on the importance of being HIPAA and HITECH compliant. Undertakings to be taken from the personnel to further ensure confidentiality.
Choosing a professional and committed medical transcription service provider would ensure that the healthcare facility would enjoy not only the cost saving benefits of outsourcing and the knowledge that patient data confidentiality is maintained but also the other benefits of outsourcing like:
