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Article: Offshore outsourcing creates privacy-related risks; HIPAA-covered entities urged to push vendors for disclosure of outsourcing arrangements.(Benefits Management: Consulting & Outsourcing)(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)
- Article from:
- Business Insurance
- Article date:
- May 31, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: JOANNE WOJCIK
An extortion attempt by a Pakistani medical records transcriber, who threatened to post protected health information on the Internet if she wasn't paid for her work, has drawn attention to the risks associated with offshore outsourcing.
Under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, it is illegal for any covered entity-such as any employer-sponsored health plan, health care clearinghouse or health care provider, regardless of size-to make public patient health information.
However, the law does not specifically mention offshore outsourcing, nor does it require any HIPAA-covered entities to ...