I attempt to do a lot of vendor security evaluations for practice’s Business Associate Review. Normally, I get hung up on, yelled at and ignored in the dental space. This is because no one is asking the hard questions of their vendors.
HIPAA says you need to vet your vendors and Business Associates to ensure they are adhering to your security policies in your practices, as well as not introduce any unnecessary risk by their actions. In large facilities, such as hospitals where they have a HIPAA department, it is common to require that the vendor go through a full Risk Assessment, sometimes with an in-person evaluation to prove they won’t be the reason you have a data breach.
In smaller practices, you just don’t have the resources for that, which is why ACS exists. We simply ask the vendor or potential Business Associate to fill out a Security Evaluation, have their Business Associate Agreement evaluated and modified if necessary, and prove they carry adequate insurance.
Simple, right?
Not really. I’ve been doing this for a few years now on behalf of our clients, and have spent a lot of time educating businesses as to why this is necessary. We even started compiling a list of vendors that are willing and able to complete this evaluation. So when a vendor comes along that not only willingly fills out the security evaluation and modifies their Business Associate Agreement, but says they do this all the time and that this was one of the easier ones to fill out — my little risk adverse compliance heart flutters and I want to share it with the world.
(This is not a paid endorsement. I don’t receive any money or non-monetary compensation for mentioning this company. I share because I believe in their business philosophy and feel it could be a good fit for practices.)
Meet Corral Solutions. According to Scott Wong, Manager of Sales:
“Corral Solutions is a software platform that allows practices to keep their patients financially engaged. We believe practices should be armed with easy to use tools that make their patients actually happy about paying their bills. Crazy right? Practices do this by leveraging features such as card on file payments, automated payment plans, no login online bill pay, and automated email notifications (replacing statements) in order to give their patients every possible avenue to make a payment. Whether you are fee-for-service or are value based care, we have features that will streamline your in office process, reduce A/R balances, dramatically shrink your revenue cycle, and make you more money. All while being PCI and HIPAA compliant. Because Corral Solutions thinks the world of ACS Technologies and their mission in the dental world, we are going to extend a great discount to any ACS clients who sign up in the month of September, and a smaller discount to anyone who signs up after that. Please reach out to Travis Taylor at (805)679-8103 or at ttaylor@axiatech.com to get started.”
