title: Alternative staffing services. Contract transcription.
abstract: Contract medical transcription services can be of great assistance in meeting the demands for transcription, without jeopardizing patient, physician, or institutional confidentiality. You simply must require the contract service to provide at least the same degree of protection and preservation of confidentiality that you should require inhouse. To achieve this you must make these requirements explicit, comprehensive, comprehensible, believable, and enforceable. Discuss the requirements with prospective contractors. Review them at least annually with existing contractors and when contracts are due for renewal. Be sure to specify the consequence of breaching confidentiality, and if there are breaches, enforce the terms of the contract. Consult your institution's legal counsel both in developing the contract and in enforcing its provisions. Take into consideration your department's and institution's policies, AHIMA's statement on confidentiality, as well as local, state, and federal laws. Above all, never lose sight of the patient. Ultimately, it is not patient information that you are obligated to protect. It is the patient.
authors: American Association for Medical Transcription, Modesto, CA.
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Tessier
mesh_terms: D003219:Confidentiality; D003284:Contract Services / Q000592:standards*; D008500:Medical Records Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce