QUESTION: Patients at our practice check in and sign out at an open station that overlooks the waiting room. Recently, a patient expressed concern that other people in the area might hear her information. How can we reduce the risk of violating patient privacy law when patients are registering for and scheduling appointments?

Question from Butte, MO Subscriber

ANSWER: One of the best things your front desk staff can do to prevent HIPAA complaints is to focus on patient engagement and customer service. When your patients have a positive rapport with your employees, patients are more likely to initially address any privacy concerns with you. Feeling heard prevents the patient from going directly online to file a HIPAA compliant against your practice.

That’s why it’s imperative that your front desk gives a great first impression. You don’t want to confront HIPAA violations that stem from a patient getting the wrong message through your staff’s tone of voice on the phone, or how the patient is greeted in the lobby. When staff convey even unintentionally that your practice doesn’t care about patients, they can easily wonder whether you care about their privacy.

Here are concrete steps that your front desk staff can take that will decrease your practice’s risk for violating patient privacy law:

• Restrict Scheduling Volume and Details: Use a low tone of voice on the phone, and stick to the minimum verbiage. For example, if you’re screening a patient for coronavirus when they schedule, don’t say “Oh wow Mr. Brown, that sounds like COVID! You’d better come in for a test.”
• Limit Reminder Info: When confirming appointments at the front desk, remind the patient only of the date, time, and provider — not the reason for the visit.
• Reference Numeric Identification: When verifying patient information at check-in, use partial data only. For instance, you can identify patients by the last four digits of their phone number, their numeric street address, or the last digits of their insurance number.
• Reduce Screen Visibility: Be sure your computer screen is visible only from behind the desk — not from the side or front. Consider attaching screen concealers that limit the viewable angle.
• Create Physical Barrier: Consider adding a transparent divider to separate your reception area from the rest of the waiting room, consider adding one. Not only will it prevent patients from overhearing conversations that occur at the front desk, the partition will increase sanitation and prevent spreading of the coronavirus.

For more ways your front desk can make or break you practice, register for the 3-Part Front Desk Training Series from customer service and collections expert, Tracy Bird, FACMPE, CPC, CPMA, CEMC, CPC-I. These must-have online training sessions that can help you head off front desk customer service disasters, improve overall patient satisfaction, avoid HIPAA violations and maximize collections.

Related Resources For Your Front Desk 

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Comply with Tightened Post-COVID-19 HIPAA Telehealth Rules		3-Part Front Desk Training Series		Stop Practice Penalties, Comply with New COVID-19 Employment Laws
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