How We Protect Patient Information While We Handle Your Billing

A medical claim carries more than a diagnosis code and a dollar amount. It holds a patient's name, date of birth, insurance details and treatment history, which makes billing one of the most data-heavy jobs in any practice. North American Billing handles that information every day, so HIPAA compliance shapes how we work from the first claim onward.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, passed in 1996, sets national standards for protecting health information. Because we work with protected health information (PHI) on behalf of healthcare providers, the law classifies us as a business associate. Under the Privacy Rule, we use only the minimum PHI a billing task requires. The Security Rule calls for administrative, physical, and technical safeguards around electronic records. If something goes wrong, the Breach Notification Rule tells us whom to inform and by when.

Every provider we work with signs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) before any patient data changes hands. The agreement spells out how we may use PHI, which safeguards we maintain and what we owe you after a security incident. You know where responsibility sits from day one.

In practice, our team opens patient records only when a task calls for it, and each person sees only the accounts they work on. Staff complete HIPAA training, and patient information travels through secure, encrypted channels.

Outsourcing billing does not remove your own HIPAA obligations. As a covered entity, you remain responsible for the information you share, which makes your choice of billing partner a compliance decision as much as a financial one.

If you are weighing partners, ask each one for its BAA and read it closely. We will gladly send you ours, along with answers to any security questions your team has.