Acusis Selects Siemens to Evaluate Current HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance Efforts.Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 2003 Acusis(R), a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website, Title I of HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when (HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996, Public Law 104-191) Also known as the "Kennedy-Kassebaum Act," this U.S. law protects employees' health insurance coverage when they change or lose their jobs (Title I) and provides standards for patient health, ) privacy and security efforts and provide an independent assessment of its HIPAA compliance initiative. Additionally, Acusis announced that every one of its more than 500 global staff members has completed and passed a HIPAA awareness, privacy, and security training course. With a team of more than 350 transcriptionists and editors and its proprietary Web-based software, AcuSuite(R), Acusis uses a secure, 256-bit encrypted method to manage the entire transcription process from capturing dictations to delivering electronic reports. As part of the engagement, Siemens Health Services health services Managed care The benefits covered under a health contract HIPAA consultants will review Acusis' policies, procedures, and technical infrastructure to assess vulnerabilities and offer recommendations for compliance with HIPAA privacy and security regulations. The process includes: -- A walkthrough of Acusis' headquarters to review the physical safeguards. -- A phone sweep of Acusis' US-based phone lines. -- An onsite vulnerability assessment A Department of Defense, command, or unit-level evaluation (assessment) to determine the vulnerability of a terrorist attack against an installation, unit, exercise, port, ship, residence, facility, or other site. of the Acusis headquarters' local area network (LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. ). -- A review of written policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental , including confidentiality policy, remote access policy, and employee sanction/disciplinary policy. "As a HIPAA Business Associate of numerous clinics, physician practices, and hospitals, Acusis has built our model around HIPAA-protected health information guidelines," David Iwinski, Jr., Acusis President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , said. "We are pleased to be the first outsourced medical transcription provider that has had our HIPAA compliance efforts independently audited by Siemens." "Requiring that each one of our staff members complete and pass a HIPAA training course and our relationship with Siemens reinforces our commitment to provide world-class service, quality, and accurate transcription reports that meet or exceed HIPAA regulations," Iwinski added. "We're pleased that Acusis has selected us to review their HIPAA compliance," Bill Ciemny, senior vice president, Global Services, Siemens Medical Solutions said. "Our review of their current policies and procedures provides them with unbiased recommendations on how they can maintain or improve their HIPAA compliance." Siemens has been working for years with Congress, federal, state and local agencies on the development of HIPAA standards, and has been instrumental in setting HIPAA policies. About Acusis(R) Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Acusis provides cost-effective, quality outsourced medical transcription services to clinics, hospitals and large physician practices throughout the United States. Through its proprietary Web-based software, AcuSuite(R), Acusis uses a secure method to manage the entire transcription process from capturing dictations to delivering electronic reports. Acusis delivers 98 percent accurate reports within a tailored 24-hour or less turnaround. With a global team of more than 500 employees throughout the U.S. and India, Acusis provides world-class quality, service, turnaround time (1) In batch processing, the time it takes to receive finished reports after submission of documents or files for processing. In an online environment, turnaround time is the same as response time. and highly competitive prices. For more information on Acusis, visit www.acusis.com or contact us at all.ears@acusis.com or 866.837.6158. |
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