AHDI, MTIA Combine to Create Compliance and Transparency Manual
admin on June 21st, 2010
The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and The Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) have combined to create the Manual of Ethical Best Practices for the Healthcare Documentation Sector.
The manual will help health care documentation and medical transcription businesses and professionals to adopt policies and procedures for complying with HIPAA privacy and security laws and operating in a manner consistent with best ethical practices related to transcription billing, compensation, and outsourcing. The manual is part of the associations’ ongoing commitment to safeguarding protected health information and upholding the integrity of the profession and industry.
“With the emerging demand from healthcare delivery for increased standardization and greater specificity around exchange of health information, the time is ripe for the healthcare documentation sector to look closely at its compliance practices to ensure that the sector is best positioned to respond to the future needs of health care,” stated AHDI/MTIA CEO Peter Preziosi, PhD, CAE. “We want to be a resource for business owners and healthcare documentation professionals in developing policies, procedures, and contracts that reflect high-integrity business practices and promote transparency around key issues that reflect well on the industry as a whole.”
The associations convened an advisory council composed of industry content and practice experts including transcription professionals, managers, quality assurance coordinators, educators, and medical transcription service owners and executives to provide input regarding areas that could benefit from the creation of ethical best practices and to assist in content development for the manual. Council participants recognize that a set of ethical best practices is a necessity at this time of greater regulation, scrutiny, and enforcement by the federal government.
“The medical transcription/healthcare documentation industry is entering a new age of regulation with the increased emphasis on data privacy and security by consumers, the healthcare industry and the government combined with the trend towards increased governmental scrutiny of healthcare vendors,” added Scott Edelstein, Esq., a partner in the health law practice of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP.
