Among the expectations in terms of deadlines and quality goals, a  medical transcriptionist has to deal with confidentiality expectations too. A  transcriptionist has to ensure that all the medical information that passes through his/her hands is never compromised. This is where the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) comes into the picture. Now HIPAA not only expects you to deliver accurate records but also wants you to work under certain specifications, and rightly so. HIPAA’s expectations revolve around ensuring that the patients’ health information is always kept confidential.

In a medical transcription company, employees can comply with HIPAA easily as the company implements measures to keep patient data secure and confidential. A home-based transcriptionist, however, has to take measures on his/her own in order to ensure compliance with HIPAA. Here’s what you need to do:

• Use a firewall and an anti-virus software. Make sure these are updated on a regular basis. Try to keep a computer dedicated to medical transcription work so that no one else has access to the system.
• Use passwords to secure all the medical transcription data on your computer.
• Use a secure FTP network to send medical transcription files.
• Use a password to access your FTP site.
• While sending e-mails about your medical transcription work, make sure they are encrypted.
• Keep backing up your work on a separate drive for the purpose of business continuity.

So, how do you ensure security and confidentiality of medical information? Do you do anything different from what has been stated in this post?