How Secure is Your Patients’ Information?

Medical billing uses some very confidential patient information. It is the responsibility of your medical practice to protect this personal information for your patients’ safety. Making one confidentiality mistake can ruin your practice and your security for a lifetime.

Patients trust you with their health, their lives, and their personal medical billing information. If you do not have a trustworthy practice, you will not have any patients. It is a regulation that PHI must not be left unattended or unlocked in or on someone’s desk. Many medical billing personnel will get too comfortable with the people they work with and will leave billing information laying out on their desks. This is not proper protocol.

Sometimes a security breach occurs when computers are stolen. Many times the computers are merely stolen for the physical hardware. Although this is a monetary loss, it is the better scenario. The other scenario is that computers are stolen for the confidential information they contain. This can lead to outright identity theft of your patients.

Never be too careful with someone else’s medical billing information. To prevent medical billing information from being stolen, utilizing an outside medical billing firm is recommended. These firms are specially designed to protect your patients’ information. Protecting a patient’s confidential medical billing information should be your top priority.

View all Articles by: Melissa Clark, CCS-P