Medical correspondence management is about managing the flow of communications containing protected healthcare information (PHI) from a healthcare provider or hospital to a patient or third party requestor. The most common form of medical correspondence involves patient medical records containing PHI. Since medical correspondence is highly regulated and an integral part of HIPAA compliance, it must follow a clearly defined release of information process to protect patient privacy and confidentiality.
Successful medical correspondence management means securing information and protecting patient privacy, providing requested PHI in a timely manner and complying with HIPAA regulations. Arctrieval enables healthcare providers and hospitals to easily manage, deliver and track medical correspondence…and more. With Arctrieval healthcare software as a service on a cloud computing platform, you can spend more time providing patient care and less time processing paper.
Consent Management
Consent management is a system, process or policies that allows individuals to determine what healthcare information and medical recordss they will permit healthcare providers to access. It enables individuals to govern their participation in electronic health initiatives and establish privacy preferences to determine who may access their protected health information, for what purpose and under what circumstances. Consent management supports the dynamic creation and management of individual, business and jurisdictional privacy laws and policies.
Release of Information
Release of information (ROI) is the process by which medical records containing protected healthcare information defined by HIPAA is made available to a patient or third party requestor. The ROI process to access medical information starts with a patient or requestor submitting a medical record release authorization form or letter to a healthcare provider or hospital.
Medical Record Request Authorization
Medical records request authorization is usually a form or official letter that permits a healthcare provider or facility to disclose medical records. To comply with HIPAA regulations a healthcare provider must receive a medical record request authorization prior to releasing protected healthcare information. If the medical information is required for the continuing caring of the patient, payment and reimbursement for services provided by the healthcare provider or ongoing practice operations, then a signed authorization form is not required.
Patient Privacy Protection
HIPAA requires every healthcare provider and entity to protect the integrity and confidentiality of healthcare information. This means every entity with access to health information is accountable for what they do with it, individuals have complete control over the use of their personal health information and consumers are protected from abusive or illegal practices. Although patient privacy is part of HIPAA, you can and should do more. Actrieval’s free service assists consumers to obtain copies of their medical records, assert their health privacy rights and learn who has access their health information by requesting a disclosure audit.
