I found this tidbit on another site today addressing an amendment to the health care bill. See below:
“The HITECH bill would also hold business associates — such as billing and medical transcription services — to equal security and privacy standards as the controllers of health care data. The new bill gets rid of the many loopholes that let providers evade similar HIPAA restrictions. It also calls for seriously penalizing or imposing fines on third parties, found to be neglectful in protecting health care information.”
Now after reading this I had to think about the offshore use of transcription services. If this bill truly intends to hold service companies to security and privacy standards set forth by HIPAA regulations, one has to question how HIPAA would penalize or fine an offshore transcription company. It would seem that fining a foreign company who does not adhere to U.S. standards is going to be impossible. I would watch this with increasing scrutiny as the bill approaches ratification.
As a physician reading this why not just play it safe and keep your patients records safe and secure in an online environment by taking a look at what A-1 Medical Transcription has to offer.