Health care
organizations often have multiple divisions or departments that handle the different areas involved with delivering health care services. Outsourcing various functions within a health care agency, such as billing, staffing needs and business functions, can go a long way towards reducing overall costs. Issues concerning ethics, confidentiality and security are some of the challenges health care agencies face when outsourcing services.
Ethical Challenges
Health care agencies have certain responsibilities as far as ensuring the competency of their staff, which directly impacts the health and safety of their consumers. Outsourcing staff services, such as nurses and doctors, requires agencies to follow up on the quality and credentials of the staff used by a third-party vendor. Neglecting these responsibilities can place an agency within a precarious position when issues surrounding incompetence and liability affect consumer health and safety. Health care agencies must also assume a certain degree of accountability in terms of notifying patients that a third-party vendor is handling certain tasks within the agency.
Confidentiality Issues
The nature of the health care industry requires agencies to collect large amounts of sensitive and personal information from their patients. In order to protect patient privacy, health care agencies must follow the federal guidelines laid out the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, according to Healthcare Financial Management. HIPAA requirements cover any area within a health care agency that handles patient information. As HIPAA requirements emphasize patient confidentiality and privacy, these restrictions pose definite challenges for agencies that regularly outsource services. These guidelines also extend to any subcontractor agents or agencies used by a third-party vendor. As a result, health care agencies that outsource must follow up on the documentation management practices used by third-party providers as well as any subcontractor agents on an ongoing basis.
Security Challenges
The security challenges involved with outsourcing health care services also tie in with HIPAA requirements in terms of how organizations handle patient information within their computer system networks. Security requirements under HIPAA affect administrative procedures, user authorization roles and information storage procedures. Health care agencies, third-party vendors and any subcontractor agents must have certain computer security protocols in place in order to remain in compliance with HIPAA law. Security protocols also require all involved staff to be trained on proper procedures for handling patient information. In effect, agencies that outsource health care services should ensure third-party providers can implement the necessary computer system protocols and provide the necessary training for their staff.
