Hard task

New Delhi, Feb. 20: Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) companies that focus on medical transcription may find it hard to capture business in the $800-million US healthcare market.

Medical transcription is the process where the prescriptions given by busy doctors in the US are transcribed by call centres in countries like India to save on transcription costs.

Currently, the healthcare organisations in the US outsource functions like customer acquisition and imaging services, claims processing and disease management.

One of the biggest hurdles that BPO companies in India face is the absence of a law on medical transcription. In the absence of data protection law, US hospitals and insurance companies are reluctant to provide work to Indian BPOs. Countries like the Philippines and Luxembourg, on the other hand, have strong legal frameworks for medical transcription.

In addition to the domestic laws, the healthcare outsourcing service providers need to ensure compliance with foreign regulations.

In 1996, the United States enacted a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and Enactment of Data Protection Act 1978. These Acts not only stipulate the way for standardisation of the format to maintain health records but also provide penalties for those misusing the data.

Pawan Duggal, a senior Supreme Court counsel and cyber-law expert, says: ?Indian firms need to ensure compliance with HIPPA as non-compliance on their part can expose the principal client company to litigation and penalty in the US. Medical transcription service providers in India, when contracting with US clients, also need to fulfil the mandatory requirements of the first-ever federal privacy legislation to protect a patient?s medical records.?

?These standards provide health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs,? said Duggal.

The norms allow patients to see and obtain copies of their medical records. The authorities have to provide access within 30 days. Notice of privacy practices, covered health plans, doctors and other healthcare providers must provide notice to their patients on how they use the personal medical information and their rights under the new privacy regulations. ?This is not available in India,? said Duggal.

While HIPAA and its standards are applicable to health plans, pharmacies, doctors and other covered entities have to establish policies and procedures to protect the confidentiality of protected health information about their patients.

It is essential that Indian healthcare outsourcing service providers should get appropriate instructions from their principal client as to what specific practices they have to comply with in order to meet the federal privacy standards stipulated by HIPAA.

Whenever an Indian vendor provides medical transcription service to an American hospital or clinic, it needs to inherently protect the confidential patient information and the data it receives for the purposes of back-office processing.

?US clients are very particular about information leaks. The company or hospital, being the principal, is liable for all the acts of its agents, including the vendor providing outsourced medical transcription services,? Duggal said.