The implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996 has placed a much greater emphasis on patient security and privacy. Healthcare entities of all types are now required to institute stringent security measures or face the risk of violating the law. As such, it is vital that all healthcare facilities follow HIPAA-compliant medical transcription practices.

At Phoenix Cybertech, we take privacy and security seriously. We're a HIPAA-compliant medical transcription company that has taken the extra step of creating Team HIPAA, our in- house initiative that closely monitors all federal regulations and keeps abreast of any changes. What's more, we enter into Business Associate Agreements with our clients who qualify as Covered Entities to help them ensure their own HIPAA compliance. Stringent security measures are our standard operating procedure.

In addition to our HIPAA medical transcription practices, we combine state-of-the-art technology with comprehensive managerial procedures to ensure the highest level of security. Our goal is to safeguard the confidentiality of all private information that we handle, whether transferred over public networks or stored internally.

To demonstrate our commitment to being a HIPAA-compliant medical transcription company, we've developed a comprehensive and continuous security review initiative that focuses on a number of critical areas:

Secure Physical Access

Our HIPAA transcription compliance begins at our own facilities. We believe that a key element of being a HIPPA-compliant medical transcription company is limiting access to our facilities. Our data centers are kept under continuous lock-down and are monitored by around-the-clock surveillance. Individuals wishing to gain access must pass through several levels of identity verification.

Authenticated Access & Privileges

Being a HIPAA-compliant medical transcription company also requires keeping a tight rein on who has access to sensitive data. We also limit access to private information to those who have a need to know. We've implemented an imbedded intelligence procedure that ensures only authorized individuals can gain access to information that is related to their specific job functions. Additionally, we conduct thorough background checks on all vendors and employees.

Audit Trails

HIPAA medical transcription compliance requires a comprehensive auditing process. We've established a painstakingly detailed audit trail procedure for every individual with access to data or voice information at all stages of the dictation/speech to text process.

Data Encryption

A HIPAA-compliant transcription company must also take steps for encrypting sensitive data. Our security protocols encrypt data-at-rest and data-in-motion. Data is encrypted using both 128- bit Twofish encryption and 128-bit SSL encryption. This further ensures HIPAA medical transcription compliance.

Redundancy

Phoenix Cybertech's data centers are structured around a highly-redundant environment. Any failure of a single server, communications device or storage device will not take our systems offline. Redundancy is further enhanced by 2 separate Internet providers. Likewise, redundant public power supplies, an engine generator, and redundant climate control systems help ensure uninterrupted operations.

Data Back-Up

When any transaction - speech to text dictation/transcription - is received at our primary data center it is immediately copied to 2 additional storage arrays. Within 10 minutes it is also copied to our secondary data center. Likewise, each evening, all data in the primary data center is recopied to the secondary data center to ensure the protection of all voice/text files.