HIPAA Billing Software - Make Sure Yours Is Well Supported!
Every medical practice should make sure that they are using HIPAA billing software. Not only is billing software important to ensure the profitability of the practice, but it should also ensure that the practice is fully compliant with the HIPAA rules and regulations. HIPAA (health insurance portability and accountability act) as the full name suggests, initially dealt with the availability of health insurance. Since its inception in 1996 it has been amended and added to and now also deals with administration and the privacy of health records. Violation of the act can lead to fines of up to $250,000 and 10 years imprisonment. Even minor infringements can result in a fine of up to $50,000 and 1 year in jail.
HIPAA compliant billing software will go a long way toward ensuring that the necessary safeguards are in place to protect a patient’s protected health information (PHI) and to ensure that a particular medical practice is complying with the act. If you currently run medical billing software that isn’t certified to conform to the regulations, ask your supplier if they have an upgrade available or if they are planning on creating a HIPAA compliant upgrade. If they aren’t, then you should start to look for a supplier who can provide you with a fully compliant system as a matter of urgency. As part of being HIPAA compliant the software should be able to issue electronic requests for payment to health insurers and Medicare. Even if you are currently a small practice and exempt from compulsory filing of electronic bills, you may find that through expansion or rule changes you may need to use this facility in the future.
Regulations are frequently updated and you need a system that can be updated to take into account any new rules. Confirm with your supplier that free or low cost updates will be available. Just looking at recent HIPAA legislation you can see how expensive it could be to have to buy new software. In October 2003 new rules meant that all electronic transactions had to comply with standard designated HIPAA formats. Whether the transactions were dealing with claims, remittance advice or eligibility enquiries, there was a set format for them if they were transmitted electronically. If your software wasn’t flexible enough to be updated you would have needed to buy new software to be in compliance with the law. 18 months later in April 2005 yet more HIPAA regulations regarding the security of protected health information and the storage and emergency retrieval of the information came into force. Once again with the wrong software you would have needed to upgrade.
As you can see it is essential that you invest in good quality and well supported HIPAA billing software. Making the wrong choice and going for a cheap option may well cost you a lot more money in the long term than if you initially selected a properly supported software package. Take time in choosing your software and you should find that you have a solution that will last you for many years to come.
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