What Does HIPAA Mean?
The HIPAA Privacy Standards require physicians to protect the privacy of patients’ medical information. Physicians are required to control the ways in which they use and disclose patients’ “protected health information.” In addition, physicians are required to offer patients certain rights with respect to their information, such as the right to access and copying, the right to request amendments, and the right to request an accounting. Finally, physicians are required to have certain administrative protections in place (such as a Privacy Officer, staff training, and implementation of appropriate Policies and Procedures) to further protect the privacy of patients’ information. The compliance date for the Privacy Standards was April 14, 2003 .
The HIPAA Security Standards require physicians to protect the security of patients’ medical information through the use of procedures and mechanisms that protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. Physicians must have in place administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that will protect information that the physician collects, maintains, uses, and transmits. The compliance date for the Security Standards is April 21, 2005 .
American Medical Association
HIPAA compliance at Fore Transcriptions USA, Inc.
Fore is committed to being compliant with HIPAA regulations. As your partner in the chain of trust carrying health information, we have in place specific technical and physical security features for data system components, identification of authorized users, control of access, data integrity, and backup/recovery to ensure availability and reliability.
Listed below is an overview of the security features we have deployed:
Authentication
Authentication is ensured through efficient use of passwords to establish user identity. Access to our proprietary workflow and distribution system is granted only after authentication.
Authorization
Authorization is ensured through grant of access based on client-defined, role-based access rights.
Integrity
Data, program, system, and network integrity play a role in ensuring that information is changed only in a specified and authorized manner.
Audit Trail
Complete logging of all modifications made to each and every document, including editor, editor's role, and time of edit.
System Security Monitoring
Monitoring of activities occurring in our system to prevent and/or detect any breach.
Data Storage and Transmission Features
Secure physical storage of all data and secure transmission. This includes constant surveillance by network experts, premises protected by security guards, backup generators, and securely encrypted transmission between Fore and its clients.
Confidentiality
We restrict access to all confidential information. Only select employees may access the system for administrative and support purposes. These employees are very limited in number and are committed to the Fore privacy and security policies. We take the extra step of having our employees execute nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements with us, which provides explicit legal confidentiality protections. Security of your and your client's data is of greatest importance to Fore. We are poised to adapt our technologies to the latest and most promising developments in the field, so that the highest level of security is maintained.
