With patient payment collections, hospitals should take steps to ensure compliance with HIPAA and payment card industry requirements, advised Dan Berger, national director of healthcare at AxiaMed, a healthcare financial technology company.
He said compliance is especially important as providers accept new patient payment methods, develop new workflows and conduct morestaff training related to collections.
"Compliance and security have never been more important," said Mr. Berger. "Hospitals should insist that security be built into the technologies they use on the premises [either patient-facing or in the central billing office]."
"Online payments should not be keyed into local workstations unless the payment form is hosted on a HIPAA-compliant gateway," he added.
Remaining compliant reduces the risk of security threats that can affect a hospital's ability to process patient payments, Mr. Berger said.
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