A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Sneaky snake-in-the-grass audits - me

Posted: Mar 04, 2014

I really think they insert words while auditing to make us look like we're making mistakes when we aren't. It makes them look like they're doing their job, and keeps us on edge, which is what they seem to want. That's not to say we don't make occasional small errors, but so what - they should be kissing our feet for the good work we do provide. Unless we copy every single report we do to compare with their interpretation, we have no recourse to dispute that the offending word was there or not in the original report.

SNEAKY AUDITS - Jasmine 215

[ In Reply To ..]
Hi Me,
You know I agree with you!

Some of the words they have listed on my audits, I wonder how they got there!

I did edit a report with the name of this young girl patient and it was spelled a little unusually. Well, I'm SURE that I replaced every one of those names with the correct spelling of her actual name. They have it listed on one of the reports that I missed it when I'm sure I corrected all of them!

keeping copy - mt

[ In Reply To ..]
I think keeping a copy is against HIPAA rules, but I believe they know what you typed and what QA types.

I've noticed the number 6 pops into my reports - poorhouse

[ In Reply To ..]
I'll be editing along and maybe hit the up arrow key and a '6' just appears. I'll stop and think if there was any way I could have hit a 6 key. Very strange. And the headings it inserts. If it doesn't match what the dictator says and I ctrl+shift+H to change it, then what the dictator says comes up. Sigh. Odd system.

THANK YOU - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I thought I was going insane. Things pop up that I KNOW I didn't put in there. Like patient names, if they are weird, I copy them from the ADT and use that, yet got gigged for spelling a name wrong, I doubt it...And yes keeping a copy is against HIPAA but who cares, they gonna take my birthday?

Violating HIPAA - FYI

[ In Reply To ..]
If anyone ever found out about violations to HIPAA, you could be prosecuted and fired, fined, or jailed. Also, I would not advertise that you are willingly violating HIPAA as it would be the obligation of any good employee to report that that kind of activity is going on.

Funny ... I've never heard of anyone doing time over a HIPAA violation - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I think the judicial system has bigger fish to fry. Besides, any company that sends 99% of its work over to India - where there ARE no HIPAA regulations - probably doesn't care much about patient privacy anyway.

Actually, India has to follow HIPAA as well - FYI

[ In Reply To ..]
Please Google HIPAA. It covers a lot more than just copy/past/save. As a business entity, M*Modal signs a contract with their clients and must abide by all the same HIPAA rules that a healthcare facility does. This responsibility also trickles down to all of M*Modal employees no matter what country they are in.

You must not see what I see as an MME - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
REGARDLESS of all the "legal mumbo jumbo" that MModal signs, agrees to, yada yada yada ... the *REALITY IS* that any company that allows its work from India to be sent directly to the client and placed in a patient chart with the name/identity/CC copy recipient errors that I see in 99% of my day, OBVIOUSLY does not care one bit about HIPAA violations or patient security.

They only come across my desk because there are blanks to fill in and the mistakes sometimes make me GASP out loud. It makes me wonder about all the craziness being sent directly through to the client without it ever being caught. I understand about HIPAA and all its *intended* importance but the truth is that there are probably THOUSANDS of HIPAA violations being committed by our foreign employees every single day. Trust me ... a domestic employee copying and pasting a few reports onto their computer is a teeny tiny little fish in the ocean of violations being committed every single day by the ILPs.

If saving a redacted report is against HIPPA rules, then the repository is a violation. - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
Nm

That is not a HIPAA violation - FYI2

[ In Reply To ..]
Keeping a copy for reference purposes is not a HIPAA violation.

HIPAA prohibits disclosure of PHI/PII ... DISCLOSURE ... to unauthorized third parties.

The facility can disclose to the MTSO and to you (business associates). You can keep copies, but you cannot disclose them to unauthorized persons. It is unwise to keep copies because they can be disclosed by accident when your computer requires repairs, is discarded, or is stolen, when they get emailed, or when printed material is discarded.

HIPAA violations are now being taken to court. Fines are imposed on a per-violation basis. One group just got a fine in the range of 8.5 million.

Just FYI, misspelling names and typing the wrong names is NOT a HIPAA violation. Typing incorrect drugs and dosages, operations, or genders is not a HIPAA violation. HIPAA has nothing to do with the CONTENT of medical reports. It only deals with inappropriate DISCLOSURES.

The burden of this rule falls upon the entity that DISCLOSED the information. If your hard drive containing stored reports or your trash with identifiable information in it is stolen or discarded, you are responsible. If your employer's data containing PHI is stolen, they are responsible. If a volunteer or employee steals PHI from unsecured computer screens or printed paper in the facility, the facility is responsible, along with employees who left the material unsecured.

If reports are faxed or emailed to unauthorized parties, the person and facility who/which faxed or emailed is responsible. YOU are not responsible because you didn't DO the faxing or emailing. You cannot be liable because you entered the wrong Dr. Smith, because you have no way be sure who it is and the faxer/emailer should know better than to fax PHI/PII.

Faxing and emailing is so dangerous that facilities are stupid to allow it. Many no longer do, but doctors continue to dictate cc's.

You can "redact" reports all you want, but removing names and numbers isn't enough. Any information that can be used to determine a patient's identity, alone or in combination with other information, is PHI. The surgeon, the procedure, and the date or an unusual feature is sometimes enough. It is difficult to redact reliably.

The problem with copies is the risk of disclosure for which you would be liable. There is also the possibility that you could be considered to have stolen the PHI, leading to criminal charges.

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