HIPAA Best Practices for Recording Calls On Your VoIP Phone System

Across the country, a growing number of organizations in the healthcare industry are switching over from a traditional phone system, to a hosted VoIP phone system. And while substantial cost savings, scalability, mobility and advanced features are big reasons for this major step forward, the fact that healthcare organizations can easily record calls for compliance, training, audit and review purposes is certainly a major advantage.

Naturally however, the same HIPAA rules that govern call recording and record-keeping on a traditional phone system apply to a hosted VoIP phone system. With this in mind and to point your organization in the right direction, below are some best practices regarding call recording and record-keeping:

1. Rigorously Control Data Access

It is vital to ensure that ONLY authorized users have access to customer databases, such as those that store information related to health conditions, medical records, healthcare team information, and audio logs of phone/web interactions. Remember that HIPAA regulations govern the protection and privacy of “all personal medical data” -- which could include as something as seemingly innocuous as a patient’s address or phone number.

2. Have Clear, Specific Policies – and Enforce Them

Many HIPAA breaches are not the result of deliberate misappropriation of patient health information, but accidental data loss or unauthorized data access. Your organization will avoid being on the wrong side of fines, sanctions and possibly lawsuits as well by having clear, specific policies governing the capturing, storing and accessing of patient health information. And of course, these policies must be rigorously enforced. To that end, additional staff training may (and likely will) be required.

3. Record All Interactions

Record all customer interactions (more on this below) in which patient health information may be conveyed, and monitor these interactions on a regular basis for compliance purposes. You should also use screen analytics software to capture any web-based interaction.

With respect to call recording: keep in mind that there are strict federal laws governing disclosure and consent when recording client/patient calls, and several states also have their own rules. For more information on this, read our blog “A Basic Primer on Hosted VoIP System Recording Laws”.

Learn More

To learn more about ensuring that you fully maximize your hosted VoIP phone system – without running afoul of HIPPA regulations and other laws and rules – contact the Votacall team today. We have worked with numerous healthcare organizations across the country, and provide end-to-end support from implementation, through to training and ongoing system management. Your consultation with us is free.

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