Are You Properly Handling PHI?

In medical billing, PHI is personal patient information that should only be shared with covered entities. It is not only unethical to release a patient’s medical billing PHI to outside sources but it can ruin your business as well.

An example of wrongly shared PHI is at the University of Missouri Health Care. Currently over 800 patients have a class-action lawsuit filed against them. The patients claim their confidential medical billing records were released to a home health provider called Option Care. Option Care apparently used the information and contacted the patients trying to sell them pricey medications. They also tried to convince them that their doctor, Dr. Paul King, did not know what he was talking about. They tried to tell the patients that this doctor did not have their best interests in mind. Apparently Dr King had recently opened a private practice and left the hospital network.

The University of Missouri Health Care had originally decided to share the medical billing PHI to boost revenue, but in the long run, revenue will probably suffer in the forms of fines and litigation costs. Other health care centers that have previously sold their patient’s information for marketing purposes are now feeling the sting in the form of privacy act lawsuits.

If you’re a physician and you have been considering outsourcing medical billing rest assured that your patient’s PHI will never be sold or compromised in any way, form or fashion. Patient and physician privacy is a huge priority for Outsource Management Group and that is just one reason why they are a leader in the medical billing industry.

View all Articles by: Melissa Clark, CCS-P