Because of compliance concerns in various sectors when it comes to the protection of confidential personal information, those in the Business Process Automation (BPA) outsourcing business have been intensely attuned to what they have to do in order to participate in the critical U.S. market. This is particularly true in terms of the healthcare information services business as the U.S. accelerates the move to digital record keeping of patient information and applies strict rules on how that information is stored, accessed and can be audited.
With this in mind, recently Gerry Dumatol, CEO of DumaTek, a major Philippine-based BPO company that focuses on the healthcare industry, announced that the HOLD—the company’s list of companies that do their due diligence when it comes to data security and compliance—is in its final stages. HOLD exposes certain Health Information Management Business Process Outsourcing (HIBPO) companies in the Philippines who have invested money in data security and compliance to the healthcare industry in the United States.
In fact, HOLD is specifically developed so that U.S. healthcare entities can still take advantage of the benefits of outsourcing to select Philippine HIMBPO companies minimizing high-risk concerns associated from today’s U.S. HIPAA and HITECH laws. The HOLD also has an embedded process for U.S. healthcare entities to discover processes they can outsource to save money.
Dumatol stated, “Due to the latest enforcement activities of U.S. HIPAA laws, U.S. healthcare entities must take caution when dealing with HIMBPO companies in the Philippines who do not invest into data security and compliance surely placing U.S. patients’ healthcare information that is protected healthcare information (PHI) under HIPAA laws at risk. The HOLD is specifically developed to help alleviate this growing concern.”
The first few Philippine HIMBPO companies who will be listed on the HOLD, entered into the Managed Compliance Service Program (MCSP) of DumaTek-PI in the first quarter of 2014. These Philippine companies will be listed on HOLD ready to engage U.S. healthcare entities interested in saving money before the end of theQ3 2014. They will be required to undergo unannounced audits performed by DumaTek-PI in the Philippines so they can maintain their “Audit Ready” status, ultimately retaining their position on the HOLD.