For any healthcare industry business, you have many regulations to consider in operations. One of the most critical is HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). It provides the framework of standards for collecting, using, and sharing PHI (protected health information). Failure to do so can lead to fines, reputational harm, and other breaches-related costs. So, how can you successfully navigate HIPAA-compliant patient communications?
You may be surprised to know that compliance is operational. With the right processes, safeguards, and protocols, you can easily meet regulatory requirements. And you don’t even have to print and mail these communications. In fact, you’ll save time, reduce expenses, enhance security, and be able to produce an audit trail by working with a transactional print and mail provider.
Here’s how these expert third parties make it easy for you.
Monitoring Compliance Changes Is Second Nature
When working with a transactional print and mail provider, compliance-related communication is all they do. Most have a full-time compliance director whose only job is to monitor and stay on top of any changes. Compliance is a core competency of such organizations, and they go beyond the minimum.
Compliance Consistency Isn’t An Issue
A print and mail business that lives and breathes compliance typically has set protocols to ensure it. Many times, these companies use methods like LEAN manufacturing’s standard works. These break down every process into steps that are repeatable each time for the same result.
Tracking Communications Through the Process Delivers Visibility
One concern you may have is visibility into the workflow if you outsource. You want to have easy access to tracking. There are tools that provide a dashboard with where each letter is in the journey from data leaving your business to delivery by mail. You’ll have full transparency regarding these transactions and have an audit trail should an incident arise.
High-Tech Equipment Ensures Accuracy
The most common way to risk noncompliance is if a patient receives someone else’s information. That means that every document must be placed in the correct envelope. With advanced inserting capabilities, mini cameras scan barcodes to confirm every page is inserted into the proper patient envelope. The level of accuracy with this system is industry-leading at 99.9999%.
If this isn’t a current capability of how you produce HIPAA-compliant patient communications, it absolutely should be. Implementing this technology into your operations is costly and requires training and procedure revamps. That’s far from easy if you do this internally.
Security Is Stronger, Reducing the Complexity of Your Infrastructure
When you tap transactional print and mail companies to manage communications, you don’t have to adapt your infrastructure or add any elements. A provider’s cyber posture is typically well above average, relating to all aspects of data security.
They’ll treat data securely throughout the process with protection for data at rest and in transit. They use proactive monitoring of their networks with intrusion prevention systems and leverage advanced firewall security. Data security is essential for their operations, and they continually evolve to meet current threats.
PCI Group: Your HIPAA-Compliant Transactional Print and Mail Provider
Working with a compliant print and mail partner removes a lot of tasks and the stress that comes with them from your plate. You can outsource to a trusted provider that understands HIPAA. That’s what you’ll get and more with PCI Group. Transactional is all we do; we’re always focused on compliance and making it easier for our customers.
Learn more about our HIPAA-compliant patient communication solutions today.
