FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Ray Dyer,
VP of Marketing
Acusis
Phone: 412.209. 1261
Email: ray.dyer@acusis.com
Acusis Selects Siemens
to Evaluate
Current HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance Efforts
PITTSBURGH, PA— June 16,
2003 — Acusis®, a leading
provider of outsourced medical transcription services, today
announced that it has selected Siemens Medical Solutions
to evaluate its Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act (HIPAA) privacy and security efforts and provide an independent
assessment of its HIPAA compliance initiative. Additionally,
Acusis announced that every one of its more than 500 global
staff members has completed and passed a HIPAA awareness,
privacy, and security training course.
With a team of more than 350 transcriptionists
and editors and its proprietary Web-based software, AcuSuite®,
Acusis uses a secure, 256-bit encrypted method to manage
the entire
transcription process from capturing dictations to delivering
electronic reports.
As part of the engagement, Siemens
Health Services HIPAA consultants will review Acusis’ policies,
procedures, and technical infrastructure to assess vulnerabilities
and
offer recommendations for compliance with HIPAA privacy and
security regulations. The process includes:
• A walkthrough of Acusis’ headquarters
to review the physical safeguards.
•
A phone sweep of Acusis’ US-based phone lines.
•
An onsite vulnerability assessment of the Acusis headquarters’ local
area network (LAN).
• A review of written policies and procedures, including confidentiality
policy, remote access policy, and employee sanction/disciplinary
policy.
"
As a HIPAA Business Associate of numerous clinics, physician
practices, and hospitals, Acusis has built our model around
HIPAA-protected health information guidelines,” David
Iwinski, Jr., Acusis President and CEO, said. “We are
pleased to be the first outsourced medical transcription
provider that has had our HIPAA compliance efforts independently
audited by Siemens.”
“Requiring that each one of our staff members complete
and pass a HIPAA training course and our relationship with
Siemens reinforces our commitment to provide world-class
service, quality, and accurate transcription reports that
meet or exceed HIPAA regulations,” Iwinski added.
“We’re pleased that Acusis has selected us to
review their HIPAA compliance,” Bill Ciemny, senior
vice president, Global Services, Siemens Medical Solutions
said. “Our review of their current policies and procedures
provides them with unbiased recommendations on how they can
maintain or improve their HIPAA compliance.”
Siemens has been working for years with Congress, federal,
state and local agencies on the development of HIPAA standards,
and has been instrumental in setting HIPAA policies.
###
About Acusis®
Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Acusis provides cost-effective,
quality outsourced medical transcription services to clinics,
hospitals and large physician practices throughout the
United States. Through its proprietary Web-based software,
AcuSuite®,
Acusis uses a secure method to manage the entire transcription
process from capturing dictations to delivering electronic
reports. Acusis delivers 98 percent accurate reports within
a tailored 24-hour or less turnaround. With a global team
of more than 500 employees throughout the U.S. and India,
Acusis provides world-class quality, service, turnaround
time and highly competitive prices. For more information
on Acusis, visit www.acusis.com or contact us at all.ears@acusis.com
or 866.837.6158.