Practice Management Alert

Depending on the healthcare organization, remote employees may need to use their own devices, such as a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet, to complete their tasks. Without ensuring the equipment has adequate protections in place, your staff are putting your organization’s data at risk. Additionally, if the employees’ networks are unsecured, patient data is at a high risk of compromise.

“You might not have antivirus software. Maybe they don’t check your personal laptop. Some organizations don’t provide a laptop, so they’ll say, ‘just use your personal laptop.’ How can you confirm that your staff has all the securities in place, right?” said Jennifer McNamara, CPC, CPMA, CRC, CPC-I, CGSC, COPC, CCS, owner of Ozark Institute and education director for OncoSpark, during her AAPC HEALTHCON 2024 session, “Compliance Challenges in Remote and Hybrid Work Environments.”

Solution: To effectively mitigate risk, you must enact clear policies and procedures for your remote and hybrid employees, as well as anyone who connects to the practice’s network from an outside connection.

Challenge 2: Ensure Secure Access to Data

Part of ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of medical data is having secure access and authentication to the information. This requires providing your employees with a protected connection to electronic medical records (EMRs) and other systems while they’re working from home or across the country.

“Some EMR systems make [having a virtual private network (VPN)] a requirement. There are others that are cloud based. You can just jump on the internet, onto the cloud-based system and just be in. And sometimes your organization may not even know what else you’re doing,” McNamara added.

Solution: Your health IT team should implement secure technology solutions to ensure staff working in the office and those working outside the office have the correct access to the information they need to fulfill their responsibilities.

Role-based access controls ensure staff can access the data they need. For example, coders, billers, and healthcare providers will have access to EMRs, while the front-end staff should be able to access only certain information that is relevant to their roles.

At the same time, you’ll want to deploy multifactor authentication (MFA) and strong password policies to secure access to the network and help prevent unauthorized access by malicious actors.

Challenge 3: Adhere to Regulations

Remote employees perform their duties from outside the office, and without them in view throughout the day, it is understandable that some staff members may accidentally violate compliance policies. These employees might have limited oversight and minimal communication with management on a daily basis, which can lead to a failure to adhere to regulation standards.

Solution: Establish and promote a culture of compliance to ensure your employees — both in office and remote — adhere to healthcare regulations and guidelines. You can also conduct regular audits and monitor productivity to check in on your remote staff.

Challenge 4: Avoid Communication Issues

“The lack of communication is making huge problems, and revenue leaks all over the place. We don’t talk to each other like we used to,” McNamara said. She added that one of the pandemic’s biggest hurdles was how some individuals still have trouble talking to a person in real life.

The lack of face-to-face interactions can lead to misunderstandings and delays in decision making. Also, the “out of sight, out of mind” aspect of remote work can make it harder to coordinate compliance.

Solution: Management and remote workers need to work together to improve communication and collaboration just like they would if they were working under the same roof. This will help ensure everyone is on the same page regarding billing, appointments, and compliance.

“We need not be afraid to speak up when there is a compliance concern,” McNamara noted.

Challenge 5: Monitor Employee Conduct

From the top to the bottom of your organization’s tree, everyone should treat each other professionally and respectfully. Regardless of whether you’re speaking with co-workers in person or over a video chat, it’s important to treat each other well.

“Compliance is not just billing and coding. It is also the code of conduct. One of the big things I’ve noticed in some of the organizations I’ve worked with was I was appalled at the way people talked to each other. I’m just, like, we’re human beings,” McNamara explained.

Solution: Develop and deploy clear conduct policies for your employees. Make sure that in-office employees and remote staff must treat each other with respect and dignity.

Michael Shaughnessy, BA, CPC, Development Editor, AAPC