We know that keeping your patients’ health information safe is at the top of your priority list, and you’re going to jump through the HIPAA-designated hoops necessary to ensure that happens. But all too often, it feels like you’re wasting time on bureaucracy when you could be tending to the needs of your patients.
Here at ScanSTAT, we are always looking for ways to ensure our services are truly taking the burden off of our clients whenever and wherever possible. Well, we’ve found another way! We’ve perfected the easiest way to adhere to the HHS HIPAA Security Rules “unique identifier” clause– section 164.312(a) – which states that a user with access to electronic protected health information must have a unique name/number for identification and tracking. This way, in the case of a breach or audit, the exact user who accessed ePHI at a given time can be identified.
Though most practices interpret the “unique identifier” rule somewhat narrowly to mean the practice must create specific identification for each separate person, ScanSTAT’s sophisticated technology and tracking mechanisms allow us to identify unique users within our own network – eliminating the need for our clients to create several different users within their system. Our clients have the option of creating one “generic” ScanSTAT login for all trusted users within our company. From there, our internal system is comprehensive enough to pinpoint the actual person who accessed ePHI on our end.
We encourage our current and future clients to leverage the Business Associate Agreement to its fullest as designated by the HITECH Act. ScanSTAT has a unique ID for all of our users, and they have to log into our network before they log into any of our clients – meaning we will always know who accessed each of our clients’ information with exact date and time details. (See this document.) Our advanced technology allows for fulfillment of the regulations without extra work on our clients’ end.
We know the main reason our clients outsource to us is to save time and money, while safeguarding against HIPAA infractions or administrative hiccups due to high turnover in medical record positions. We want to take that a step further by reducing even more of the work for practices, eliminating the need to create new users for every member of our cross-trained staff. We work hard to promote the best management of your medical records — and therefore, create a more complete outsourcing experience for you.
ScanSTAT has the industry knowledge and legal documentation to provide any proof needed for HIPAA-mandated unique identifier compliance, whether audit-induced or requested by the practice. We’re proud to provide clients with the fullest-coverage outsourcing option in the industry. If you’d like to learn more about how we can reduce records processing and many other burdens on your practice, call one of our knowledgeable team members today at 816-437-9134.