Medical bills should protect you

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:24:10 +0000

The main concern of companies is getting payment for the services and products you availed from them. Without quick and total payment, companies will eventually flounder and become bankrupt. If the institution has insufficient or no resources to perform electronic billing services, they will resort to outsourced billing services. There are many statement processing companies who are willing to take on the electronic billing services function. However, they might not be fully aware of the person’s right to protected health information. This could result in disclosure of certain health information in the billing statement that could risk the person’s privacy. Your health information, if known by others, could affect your job and relationship with others. It could jeopardize your entire lifestyle and cause rifts between your family, relatives, office mates, friends and other acquaintances. It becomes essential that you and other related entities, such as medical billing companies and physicians understand exactly what Protected Health Information (PHI) and privacy rule are all about.

The protected health information, otherwise known as PHI, refers to any medical information or payment history of an individual. Any information such as health status, health care provisions and history of payments should be considered confidential and private to the individual. The protected health information is aligned to the privacy rule of an individual. It is very broad and can apply to most any type of health information related to an individual. On the other hand, the privacy rule, as established in 2000, contains national standards intended for the protection of individually identifiable health information. While providing protection to the individual on certain health information, it has to allow sufficient health information to ensure applicability of health care maintenance, and protect the well being of the public.

When taken in conjunction to the privacy rule, PHI can be disclosed to the extent allowed by the privacy rule, upon written consent by the person, and as part of a compliance or enforcement action. However, there are instances that protected health information of an individual can be disclosed without the written authorization of the individual. One instance is when providing Information for billing, payment and health care operations. When preparing and transmitting the statement, whether electronically or manually, the persons involved in the process should ensure the information is kept confidential and private to the individual. Placing certain health information in the invoices does not mean it becomes information for the public consumption. Care and caution should be practiced when providing health information. When you select a medical billing company, make sure they are knowledgeable on the privacy rule and protected health information.

printing and mailing

admin — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:49:16 +0000

The Not-So-Small Print
No business tasks seem more rudimentary than printing and mailing. In nonprofit organizations, these jobs may be assigned to volunteers, and in most companies, the employees with the least seniority attain the most experience in performing these seemingly insignificant responsibilities. But are they truly simple tasks, to be entrusted to the least experienced? And, more importantly, could any business function properly without their being handled correctly?
Efficiency
The necessity of efficiency in the areas of printing and mailing can best be appreciated in those situations in which inefficiency has been exercised. Invoices that have not been printed out and mailed on time can mean thousands of dollars’ worth of interest lost; incorrectly processed documents can mean embarrassment or even loss of clientele; and late or mislabeled shipments can cause a domino effect, potentially leading to the downfall of an entire business enterprise. While seemingly mundane, these tasks cannot be taken lightly; instead, they must be performed with expert precision. And for that kind of professionalism, you may have to look outside your company, at a business that specializes in these seemingly small tasks.
Economy
In order to fully research the most economical options for how to print and mail, an employee with varied responsibilities within your company would need to devote an inordinate amount of time and effort to those aspects of each individual procedure or mailing that the lost time would fail to legitimize the savings. By outsourcing these tasks, they can be evaluated by professionals who have already done the research and can make prompt determinations in all related areas, from discounted indicia to paper weight options, without wasting your employees’ precious time.
Extra Benefits
In addition to the increased efficiency and economy, outsourcing printing and mailing can have benefits of added security and saved space. By having financial information printed outside your company, there is no need to guard against employees’ seeing sensitive information beyond their security levels or about other employees’ salaries or employment statuses. Another plus is the space saved by not needing to have the equipment and processing space for such tasks. Instead, there will be extra space for more employees you will hire, as your business grows.
All functions of your growing business need to be handled with efficiency. The added economy and extra benefits of outsourcing your printing and mailing can even give your business more room to grow.