What is HITECH?
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) sets the criteria for the secure management of Electronically Protected Health Information (ePHI). It aims to eliminate issues like loss or theft of data, data entry errors, etc. and provides the guidelines for access and sharing of medical records.
The HITECH act simplifies and streamlines the process of medical records retrieval, which is perhaps the most time consuming and costly task for personal injury, medical malpractice, and Mass Tort law firms and attorneys.
The Act provides individuals with the right to obtain a copy of their ePHI, and the right to designate that the records be sent to an entity or personal representative of their choosing. In addition, the only fees that can be charged are $6.50 or the cost based fees for labor for the production of the ePHI.
Advantages of HITECH
Though HITECH has been enacted to provide patients more control over their health information, the act also makes it much easier for law firms and attorneys and their third-party record retrieval companies to retrieve medical records on the behalf of their clients (patients) faster and at reduced costs.
A case’s success may depend on how quickly a law firm can gather all the records related to the litigation. Faster access to the required medical records can help the attorneys investigate the matter further and obtain important information to prove the injury, causation and damages.
Medical Records Retrieval with HITECH
With HITECH the process of medical records retrieval is much simpler.
- The client (the Patient) signs a release of informationauthorization form permitting AcroDocz to retrieve the medical records
- AcroDocz then sends the authorization form to the provider with a request to produce an electronic copy of the records.
- AcroDocz will follow up with the provider until the records are received.
- After receiving the records, AcroDocz will provide them to the law firm, and if requested, AcroDocz will organize and summarize the records received in chronologicalorder, thereby converting it into an easily readable format for the attorney.
AcroDocz assists law firm and attorneys with all medical records related tasks utilizing HITECH compliant policies and procedures We ensure that the medical records and data collected remains safe and confidential by using established, standardized policies and procedures.
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