Reimbursements have generally been tight recently for orthopedics – Medicare cuts, shrinking fee schedules, increased technology intervention in medical billing, and a multi-payer environment that is more vigilant than ever have really made it tough for orthopedics to realize their reimbursements to the maximum.

1. End to End Medical Billing Solutions
http://www.medicalbillersandcoders.com
www.medicalbillersandcoders.com
Copyright ©-2013 M.D.C.P. All Rights Reserved.
Page 1 of 2
Are Orthopedics Justified in Embracing HIPAA Compliant
Orthopedic Billing to Boost Their Reimbursement
Reimbursements have generally been tight recently for orthopedics – Medicare cuts, shrinking fee
schedules, increased technology intervention in medical billing, and a multi-payer environment that is
more vigilant than ever have really made it tough for orthopedics to realize their reimbursements to the
maximum. But amidst these monumental challenges, HIPAA compliant clinical and operational
management may still offer avenues to keep reimbursements level above average. Thus, orthopedics
across the U.S. are beginning to embrace technology-driven HIPAA compliant orthopedic billing to offset
the impact of a series of restrictive impositions on medical billing.
The significant about HIPAA compliance is that it can not only endorse orthopedics as being responsive to
patient privacy and security but also entitle them to incentives for showing up as responsible partners in
effective and efficient health care delivery. Moreover, payors perceive HIPAA compliance to be yardstick
for measuring orthopedics’ integrity for medical billing. Therefore, HIPAA compliant orthopedic medical
billing may just be the factor that can create a sense of trust among your payors. But HIPAA compliance
needs to planned and executed in a way that best suits individual practitioners or hospitals; HIPAA
compliance cannot be generalized even though you happen to be in the same discipline as orthopedics.
The factors that will need to be taken care of while migrating to HIPAA compliant orthopedic medical
billing are:
• Ensuring Protected Health Information (PHI): HIPAA compliance requires you to protect
health information, which may include anything that can be used to identify an individual
and any information shared with other health care providers or clearinghouses in any
media (digital, verbal, recorded voice, faxed, printed, or written).
• Adhering to Principles of HIPAA: While HIPAA may allow smooth flow of PHI for healthcare
operations subject to patient’s consent, it is deemed violation of HIPAA compliance if you
disseminate PHI for purposes other than treatment, payment, care quality assessment,
competence review training, accreditation, insurance rating, auditing, and legal procedures
• Following HIPAA Implementation Process: HIPAA implementation need necessarily include
both pre-emptive and retroactive controls and have process, technology, and personnel
aspects.
• Sourcing right Technology for HIPAA Compliance: HIPAA compliance needs to be served
with the right technology that can assure physical data center security, network security,
and data security

2. End to End Medical Billing Solutions
http://www.medicalbillersandcoders.com
www.medicalbillersandcoders.com
Copyright ©-2013 M.D.C.P. All Rights Reserved.
Page 2 of 2
• Being enabled role based access control (RBAC): Because health care data under HIPAA
compliance may accessed by multiple stakeholders across the clinical delivery system, it is
important that data is made available based on Role Based Access Control (RBAC) to
control the extent of data that may be shared with each of such stakeholders.
Because of interplay of these multiple factors in HIPAA compliant orthopedic clinical and medical billing
operations, providers may have look beyond internal competence and outsource technology enabled
HIPAA-compliant clinical and medical billing implementation. Medicalbillersandcoders.com offers to ease
complexities during as critical an implementation as HIPAA compliant orthopedic medical billing. Our
affiliation with experienced, competent, and credible orthopedic medical billing resources should provide
the right choice of expertise to have your medical billing infused with HIPAA compliance standards.