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HIPAA Compliance

Definition

What is HIPAA compliance?

Compliance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA is mandatory for all sectors of healthcare, including call centers concerned with classified details. A HIPAA-compliant call center can guarantee the security of the medical facilities and confidentiality of their patients’ records.

HIPAA is a complicated law that can affect any area of your call center business. HIPAA-compliant call center and business process services will not only save extra expenses for medical dependent companies. They will also become part of a more productive and robust patient care experience.

Benefits of HIPAA compliance in the call center

The Healthcare Insurance Portability and Transparency Act (HIPAA) was approved by the United States Congress in 1996 to protect sensitive health records with confidential coverage at all times.

HIPAA compliance ensures that any checked identity, address, social security number, diagnostic code, name of the provider, and all other Protected Health Information (PHI) must be addressed safely, whether in a registered phone call, in a forwarded email chain, or an appointment confirmation text message.

The HIPAA compliance extends to more than health care companies and insurance agencies. The covered entities effectively cover all primary care facilities, health insurance providers, and all billing services including health information management programs.

Here is the list of HIPAA compliance benefits to call center firms:

Provides American employees with the right to move and retain health care benefits after leaving or losing a career.
It prevents theft and violence.
Includes industry-wide guidelines for health records on electronic billing and other procedures.
Mandates the security and secrecy of private health records.

Guidelines for HIPAA compliance

HIPAA compliance regulates industry-wide guidelines for health records on electronic billing and other procedures. This has contributed to a decrease in the number of cases of fraud and neglect of health care by applying these principles. HIPAA compliance determines who may have access to such patient records, which is especially relevant in the modern age, where information can be shared quickly and broadly.

When selecting a call center, it is necessary to make sure that the call center company complies with these specified guidelines:

PHI Safeguard (Protected Health Information)
Document leaks or violations of data
Keep a comprehensive list of internal PHI security activities
Encrypt the information
Regulate & train staff
Limit access to patient data

Consequences of HIPAA non-compliance

Fines for violations of HIPAA are provided by the Office for Civil Rights of the Ministry of Health and Human Services (OCR), and state attorneys general. In addition to monetary fines, affected companies are expected to follow a response plan to bring standards and procedures up to the requirements required by the HIPAA.

Here are four categories used for the structure of the penalty:

Tier 1: Infringement that the person concerned did not know and could not realistically stop had a sufficient degree of caution been taken to comply with the HIPAA rules.
Tier 2: A breach that the person concerned may have been mindful of, but may not have prevented, even with a fair level of caution.
Tier 3: Infringement incurred as a direct result of “voluntary neglect” of the HIPAA Rules in situations where an effort has been made to remedy the infringement.
Tier 4: breach of the HIPAA rules, constituting willful negligence when no effort has been made to remedy the violation.

The penalties for non-compliance are affected by the level of negligence. It can range from $100 to $50,000 per violation, with a maximum penalty of $1.5 million per year for infringements of the same provision. Violations may also involve criminal charges that may result in prison time.

Outsourcing FAQ

What is Self-Service Portal?

What is a Self-Service Portal?

A self-service portal is a website or app that consists of self-help and self-service functions. This enables and empowers the customer to perform transactions, access their needed information, request services, or resolve issues quickly and conveniently without the help of a customer service agent.

Self-service web portals are easily accessible, user-friendly, and accessible via desktop or mobile devices. Self-service portals help companies save on money, time, and effort of customer service representatives.

Benefits of a self-service portal

Some benefits of using self-service portal include:

Customer service agents can save their time and effort. They can also focus on their core responsibilities; Customers will have improved knowledge of the product; Customers are taught to fix issues on their own, which makes it less likely to be an issue again; It enhances customer experience and strengthens the customer’s opinion of the company.

What is COPC Certification?

What is a COPC Certification?

A COPC Certification is considered as the most prestigious recognition in the customer experience operation industry. This designation is offered by COPC Inc., a privately-held consulting company that specializes in customer experience transformation.

COPC’s certification is an objective assessment and improvement process of your operation’s current performance in providing excellent customer service, as compared to the COPC Customer Experience (CX) Standard. The COPC certification has been awarded to more than 500 companies in 56 countries since its foundation in 1996.

Benefits of having COPC Certification

Since COPC is a prestigious recognition for the CX industry, earning the certification also gives you the following benefits:

Recognition as a trusted leader in the industry Higher customer satisfaction Lower cost operations Improved revenue

What is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)?

What is Business Process Outsourcing BPO?

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the engagement of services from a third-party provider. BPO uses various technology-enabled services to hasten the delivery of services. The business activities could be back-office such as, but not limited to, payroll, accounting, human resources, or front office jobs like customer service, sales, and marketing, etc. In the case of content providers, these business activities could mean hiring writers, remote editors, or virtual assistants.

BPO speeds up processes and enhances efficiency. Companies that outsource some of their business activities use their time on core services and competencies. With this shift in focus, companies improve their current processes that may result in improved customer satisfaction. BPO helps companies divert their resources to more critical business strategies. Often, companies find it impractical to hire a full-time position in-house because of the cost associated with doing so.

How does Business Process Outsourcing work?

When a business engages an external specialist to manage and operate some of its internal processes, it's referred to as business process outsourcing. Such ‘processes’ include customer service, accounting and finance, or sales. It is different from hiring an agency to do specific tasks, as the outsourcing provider (BPO) is more concerned with the ongoing production of labour-intensive tasks, instead of the higher-level strategy and guidance.

Now, business process outsourcing has broadened and is more akin to staff augmentation, or staff leasing.

What are the benefits of business process outsourcing?

There are many benefits to outsourcing, as well as some downsides and risks. The common benefits include:

Cost savings: significant savings of up to 70%, leveraging the lower global salaries Global market: access to a bigger employment pool of talent Global presence: having operational across the globe increases trade opportunities Flexible workforce: reduces internal local labour and employment compliance obligations Leverage skill: leveraging the skills of other specialist companies Focus: enables the client company to focus on their core functions

Business process outsourcing examples

The business process outsourcing sector is a vast industry, generating over $200bn annually, and employing many millions of people worldwide. Some examples include:

Big enterprise

Facebook and Uber outsource many of their operational functions, including content moderation for Facebook, and customer service for Uber

Medium-size businesses

A medium business with 50-500 staff might outsource the labour-intensive accounting and finance functions to a team in the Philippines.

Small business and entrepreneur

It is common for small business owners to have a Virtual Assistant (VA) working for hem full time, remotely from the Philippines.

What are the different types of BPO?

The type of business process outsourcing can be characterised by their specialisation, location, and size.

Generalist or specialist BPOs

Business process outsourcing is in the human resources and professional services sector. However, their services extend across all industries. The majority of BPOs are generalist, in that they offer a full range of professional services, although some specialise in certain verticals (ie accounting, or animation).

Location

Business process outsourcing typically operates form developing nations such as the Philippines, India, and Colombia. They typically have cheaper cost-of-living and bigger populations. Different locations offer different advantages.

Size of BPO

The bigger BPOs employ more than 250,000 people. They are huge, global operations. Medium-sized BPOs range from 500-5,000 staff and offer a full range of services. The smaller BPOs might have 1-500 people.

Functions of business process outsourcing

Collectively, business process outsourcing provides any kind of staffing solution. Common functions of BPO include:

Finance and accounting: operational, technical and specialist functions Healthcare: various functions of the backend of the healthcare and health-insurance industries Creative and content: everything from post-production of Hollywood movies to newspaper and website content Tech, IT and development: network management, web and app development and maintenance Sales & customer support: ongoing sales and customer operational support and delivery Marketing: ongoing marketing, communication and branding activities Talent and HR: externalising the management of company HR, recruitment and compliance Administration: general business administration and operational activities Top BPO companies in the world's top outsourcing hubs

A wide range of BPO companies in different parts of the world provide utmost services to their Western and local clients. Many of them have even earned awards and recognitions by award-giving bodies due to their performance on both the roles they take and on their way of taking care of the employees.

Check out the top BPO companies in several outsourcing destinations below:

Top BPO companies in the Philippines Top Indian BPO companies Top South African BPO companies Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services

Outsource Accelerator is the most trusted source for independent information & advisory for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). We have over 4,000 articles, 200+ podcast episodes, and a comprehensive directory with 700+ BPOs… all designed to make it easier for clients to learn about, and engage with, business process outsourcing.

What is Fully Managed Outsourcing?

What is fully managed outsourcing?

Fully Managed Outsourcing is one of the many services offered online by various outsourcing companies. It is a kind of laser-focused management that takes over the business process and tracking of the organization’s KPI metrics, training and development of employees, and quality assurance for the client. When routine tasks and jobs are outsourced, the company will have more time to focus on the more essential aspects of the business.

Fully managed service

Working with a fully managed outsourcing can be beneficial to any specific organization. Despite working offshore, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies can still provide a fully managed service to their clients. They ensure the best operational structure, competitive pricing structure, proven processes, and guaranteed results with their operational overseers. They can build a team and hierarchy; they do well-prepared implementation and alignment; and are also aligned to their high-quality mission, objectives, and culture. This kind of partnership promises a deliverable-based solution that can hit KPIs, targets, and metrics. Lastly, they can ensure continuous improvement as you go along with your business.

Outsource Accelerator provides you access to the best outsourcing companies in the Philippines, where you can save up to 70% on staffing cost. We have over 3,000 articles, 200+ podcast episodes, and a comprehensive directory with 700+ BPOs… all designed to make it easier for clients to learn about, and engage with fully managed outsourcing.