When you send a patient to collections, you effectively advertise on their credit report that they are a patient of your practice. This is permissable, since this is being done for 'Payment' purposes. However, once the debt is satisfied, the 'Payment Purpose' expires, and the credit report listing becomes a HIPAA Violation.
The credit report entry must be immediately removed, or else your practice could be held civicly liable as well as face OCR fines.
It is critical that the collection agencies that you work with are aware of this and that they will react accordingly once a past due debt is satisfied.
Of course, you should have a current BA Agreement signed by these agencies before sending them any PHI.
Some agencies may not want to remove the names of paid accounts from credit reports. Our advice: If an Agency does not wish to comply, find another agency that will!
Better safe than sorry - go to HIPAA-STAT.com to learn the easy way to comply with the HIPAA Laws
Monday, April 27, 2015
Cornell Pharmacy Pays $125K HIPAA Settlement
Cornell Pharmacy Pays $125K HIPAA Settlement
The Office of Civil Rights announced that Cornell Pharmacy has agreed to a $125,000 dollar settlement for violations relating to improper handling and disposal of paper charts and records. The fines could have been easily avoided by proper dtaff training along with better written procedures
Protect your Practice! Visit HIPAA-STAT.c0m to learn about the simple and affordable way to compliance!
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