Liability. It is one of the most uncomfortable topics for discussion in a medical environment. Clinicians, support staff, and even allied health professionals are subject to all sorts of liability issues. Even medical answering services need to be careful about it.
There was a real and distinct link between liability and answering medical calls. Whether a medical provider handles calls in-house or partners with a medical answering service, an agent’s responsibility is to communicate with every caller and transmit critical information as needed. There are huge liability risks that come with the package.
A Provider’s Responsibility
Risks start with medical providers. Both clinicians and healthcare organizations alike are legally responsible for the actions of any and all personnel who answer their phones. They are legally accountable even if they use a medical answering service.
Liability issues could arise from improper triage protocols. They could result from improperly handling protected health information (PHI). Regardless of the specific liability, healthcare providers are open to both civil and criminal actions when things go wrong.
For this reason alone, medical providers tend to be meticulous when it comes to their medical answering services. They want a service they know they can trust. They want a service with a proven history of limiting liability exposure.
Risks Associated With Patient Care
Although liability certainly covers the legal mandates relating to HIPAA and other regulations, there is something more important to consider: patient care. Many of the calls that come in are related to the patient’s healthcare needs. All patient needs, regardless of urgency, deserve proper attention.
Something as seemingly small as failing to record patient information accurately could lead to liability issues. And of course, there are other scenarios that could be more serious. For example, a failure to recognize an emergency during call triage could mean a patient not getting critical care in a timely manner. That is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
This is one of the reasons we recommend using medical answering services only from providers capable of proving their training, knowledge, and expertise. The last thing a medical provider wants is additional liability created by an answering service.
Documenting Phone Calls
One of the best ways to minimize liability is to document every phone call. Creating accurate and relevant records can mean the difference between relying on facts or assumptions to solve disputes. Documentation also protects both medical providers and their answering services.
On the other hand, failing to create and maintain adequate documentation makes it very difficult to defend against claims. The importance of this cannot be understated, especially when claims of negligence are made. Inadequate documentation often leads to the caller’s word being weighed against the agent’s. And who are civil juries more likely to side with?
Training and Maintaining Oversight
Liability risks are more pronounced when agents are not properly trained to recognize urgent calls. The same goes when HIPAA compliance training is inadequate. Fortunately, this is one aspect of a liability issue that is easy to address. Proper training and ongoing oversight is the way to do it. When agents are properly trained and managed, liability risks go way down.
As a medical answering service, we are fully cognizant of the fact that liability is built into what we do. Liability issues are a normal part of this industry. But we also know how to minimize risks so that our clients are not exposed to excess liability unnecessarily.
We take liability seriously. As a medical provider, you deserve nothing less from your answering service. You expect us to protect you.
