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Understand How Healthcare Providers Need To Leave HIPAA Compliant Voicemail

Healthcare providers are well aware that patients are sometimes not easy to contact. Upfront, you will feel the desire to actively participate and stay connected but sometimes they are busy or stubborn. Therefore, it is the liability of the healthcare provider to update them about their health. Nevertheless, staying connected is not always easy even after their appointment. 

According to a study, nearly 70% of Americans agree not to answer their phones. It means you need to leave a voicemail at some point. What you say in the voicemail can cause massive consequences as per the HIPAA guidelines. If wrong information is spread, you can land yourself in violation of a patient’s privacy. 

What is HIPAA compliance?

Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act or HIPAA is a law that defines how healthcare providers can communicate and disclose patient’s information. HIPAA compliance guarantees everyone privacy of their medical records and sensitive details. It applies whether you are using text messaging, voicemail, or a phone system in your medical practice. 

Understand Protected Health Information [PHI] 

PHI defines what not to reveal and smartly handles HIPAA compliant texting and voicemail. 

  • Information that contains identifiable data connecting to a patient’s health status.
  • Demographic data like gender, birth date, or culture of the patient can identify them.
  • Information that contains prescriptions, diagnosis reports, treatment details, and medical test results is considered PHI.
  • Patients’ detail under HIPAA protection cannot be shared without their written approval. Sometimes, a signed waiver allows the physician to share the patient’s data with third parties like lawyers. 

iPlum is a HIPAA compliant voicemail program that offers a safe and secure way to handle patients. You are aware of what to and what not to say in a voicemail messaging to the patients but how you do it also matters.

How to leave a HIPAA compliant recorded message?

There are some aspects you need to consider while leaving a HIPAA voicemail message, which is helpful and engaging to the patients. 

Construct an effective script

Everyone has encountered the telemarketer’s uninvited phone calls, which are all scripted. It helps to guide the conversation and gather specific information with each interaction. This concept can be useful as a foundation. 

You can only list minor details associated with the appointment as well as ask patients to call back. Add some personal touches in the voicemail script like a new doctor joining soon or adding new technology. It may instill a feeling of community among the receiver of the voicemail.

Genuinely reveal your emotion

When healthcare providers share their compassion it helps to enhance the patient’s health outcomes. According to a study, physicians become less compassionate over years and people call them heartless. 

Showing genuine empathy to your patients in a voicemail is important. Make sure to have a script ready because you don’t desire to sound inauthentic and unprofessional. In voicemails, you cannot overshare treatment or health information, so be your genuine self!

Ensure to call from a private room

Stay aware of the surroundings when you leave a voicemail. A compromised voicemail can lead to HIPAA guideline violations. Therefore, have an area designated for phone calls to disallow eavesdropping.