Medical Transcription Trends

Among the challenges of home-based medical transcription, the one that makes people the most unsure is probably HIPPA-compliance. Now, HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Among other things,  HIPAA requires that you keep medical information secure and confidential. In a medical transcription company, you just need to follow certain guidelines and the job will be done. But at home, you are responsible for taking measures to ensure the security and confidentiality of data. Here are a few guidelines to help you do that.

• Update your anti-virus and firewall regularly. Failing to do so will put your computer at risk. This may lead to a situation where your data is corrupted or compromised.
• Make sure you install the service packs of your operating system as and when they are released. This will help you avoid unnecessary problems.
• Don’t use your work computer for anything else other than medical transcription work. And make sure it is not used by any one else. This computer should be completely dedicated to your work.
• Make a habit of encrypting all e-mails that contain work-related information. This will help you keep the information confidential.
• Get a secure FTP connection to transfer medical transcription files. Most of your interactions will be through the Net and you would not want a non-secure connection to transfer your work files.
• If you have hard copies of medical documents, keep them under lock and key. If the papers are no longer needed, shred them.

Conforming to HIPAA is not easy when every aspect of medical transcription is your responsibility. Thus, medical transcriptionists who are interested in working from home should make sure they can handle it before they start making room for their home office.

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