HIPAA Regulations and MPWord

Contrary to what you hear on the medical transcription discussion boards, the HIPAA regulations (which went into effect in April 2003) address the medical transcription field only in passing. What those regulations state concerning medical transcription is that the transcriptionist (or the MTSO) must take reasonable care (their terminology) in safeguarding the confidentiality of the records.

This has been interpreted by the leaders in the medical transcription field to mean:
The Mt's computer is safeguarded so that unauthorized persons don't have access to her files.
Any electronic communication of those records is done in a secure fashion.

Although the HIPAA regulations don't require it, HIPAA strongly recommends that detailed records be kept regarding those files. This makes sense, for the regulation is the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act. They strongly recommend records be kept regarding:
Who created the file.
Who viewed, edited or printed the file.
Who is sent a copy of the file.

If you use MPWord for your transcription you not only meet the requirements, but you also comply with HIPAA's strong recommendations.

It is of course every Mt's responsibility to safeguard her computer. MPWord can't impact that. However, installation onto Microsoft's Vista operating system can certainly help. Under Vista you must log in as a user (eg, Susie). MPWord is installed for that user. Another log-in user (eg, Joey) on that computer cannot even see the Susie's or MPWord's files.

Unless the user purposefully overrides it, electronic communications via email and FTP are encrypted and password protected. HIPAA requires a legal notice on confidential faxes. The MPWord fax cover sheet contains that legal notice.

Who created, viewed, edited or printed the document is stored in the MPWord document properties, making it a permanent part of the file itself.

Every file emailed, faxed or FTP'd is entered into the File Sent History log, with abundant information about the transmission of the file.

No generic word processor comes close to complying with HIPAA. MPWord, designed for medical transcription, knows the regulations, and complies.

There is nothing you have to do to ensure compliance with HIPAA. Compliance is built into the program.

About medical transcription

The medical transcriptionist listens to reports dictated by doctors, and types them into medical/legal documents. Medical transcription became increasingly important when Medicare established this rule: "If it isn't documented, it wasn't done. If we can't read it without straining, it wasn't done." That edict largely did away with the hand scribbled note in the patient's chart, and made medical transcription necessary.

Working in medical transcription is not like that of a court reporter. The court reporter reproduces exactly what was said, grammatical errors, and all. The medical transcriptionist edits the words she hears into literate English, for no one -- not even highly educated doctors -- speaks perfect English all the time. She breaks the run-on sentences, corrects subject-verb agreement, and reproduces in literate English what the doctor has dictated. She will flag for the doctor's attention any inconsistencies in the dictation (eg, stating left in one sentence and right in another), or any portions of the dictation that were unintelligible or garbled.

She needs knowledge of body systems and what can go wrong with those systems (pathology). She needs to know anatomy and pharmacology so that she will understand what the doctor is saying. Hers is a supporting role, and doctors value highly an excellent transcriptionist, for she/he makes him look good. (There are on-line schools and books to teach the basic medical knowledge the transcriptionist needs.)

Her basic tools are a system to play voice files, as well as:

• a word processor,
• medical spell check,
• possibly a program to facilitate abbreviation expansion (or use of a built-in expander, such as Word's AutoCorrect),
• a program for creating invoices from the transcribed files, and
• communications software to get the transcribed reports back to the client or agency.

MPWord is alone in its field of medical transcription software, for it alone incorporates all the above -- and more -- into one program.

Official governmental report on medical transcription as a field of employment:

• "Job opportunities will be good. Employment of medical transcriptionists is projected to grow faster than average for all occupations through 2014."
• "Contracting out transcription work overseas and advancements in speech recognition technology are not expected to significantly reduce the need for well-trained medical transcriptionists."

Read more in the Occupational Outlook Handbook on Medical Transcription, http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos271.htm

Discussion board, job board, fraternity:

• MTStars - The US largest community of over 9,000 Medical Transcriptionists http://www.mtstars.com

On-line Transcription Schools:

• Andrews School, http://www.andrewsschool.com Linda Andrews, 5601 NW 72nd #167, Oklahoma City, OK 73132, 405-721-3555.
• Career Step, http://careerstep.com 1220 North Main Street, Suite 6, Springville, Utah 84663, 801-489-9393

Organizations:

• AAMT, The American Association for Medical Transcription, http://www.aamt.org
• MTIA, Medical Transcription Industry Alliance, for MT Services: http://www.mtia.com
• HPI, Health Professions Institute, http://www.hpisum.com offers publications and seminars. Box 801, Modesto, CA 95353, 209, 551-2112
• AHIMA, American Health Information Management Association, http://www.ahima.org/index.cfm, 919 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60611, 312, 787-3672

Dictation systems (for recording or playing voice files):

• FOR RECORDING DICTATION:
•     Unlimited Dictation. http://www.unlimiteddictation.com/ A full service web-based call-in system. HIPAA compliant. Flat fee of $100 per month, with no per minute charge. Highly recommended. (706) 610-0099
•  
• FOR PLAYING DICTATION:
•     Winscribe, http://www.winscribe.com/