Rules and regulations to be followed by medical transcriptionists
1. RULES AND REGULATIONS TO BE FOLLOWED BY MEDICAL
TRANSCRIPTIONISTS
Medical transcriptionists need to follow some codes of ethics for protecting the privacy and
confidentiality of the patient information. In this article; we look at these codes of ethics and understand
how they affect the medical transcriptionists.
Medical transcription business is a highly demanding affair which deals with protecting the personal
information of patients in a highly secure manner. The codes of ethics have been designed in such a
manner that they are applicable to healthcare in general and medical transcription in particular.
The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) initially developed these codes of ethics
for its members. Now these guidelines work as a framework for medical transcription companies.
Let us now look at some of the rules and regulations laid by AHDI which help medical transcriptionists in
providing quality services to the clients:
• Confidentiality of patient information: Confidentiality of patient information is of paramount
importance to medical transcription companies. It includes peer reviews, quality improvement
and risk management protocols with special effort to maintain data security in electronic
communications.
• Maintain standards of professional transcription practice: Proper implementation and
maintenance of standards for professional transcription practice.
• Accurate and timely information: Always strive to provide accurate and timely information.
• Compliance with rules and regulations for patient documentation: Compliance with all laws,
rules, regulations and standards governing practice of patient documentation.
• Exercise integrity in professional practices: Always strive for professional practices including
work or professional experience, credentials, affiliations, productivity reporting, billing charges
and payment practices.
• Respect the rights and dignity of all individuals: Every individual has a unique thing to offer.
Hence; it is very important to understand the needs of every individual and respect their rights
and dignity.
• Encourage work environment which promotes integrity and professionalism amongst
employees: Create a working environment where employees are thorough professionals
facilitating integrity and protecting personal information of the patients.
Medical transcription business is more than just converting voice files into typewritten documents. A
simple error can even cause death of a patient. Hence; it is very important for medical transcription
