MedRisk Among First to Receive Dual URAC HIPAA Accreditation

Pennsylvania-based MedRisk, Inc. has been awarded both HIPAA Privacy and HIPAA Security Accreditation from URAC, a Washington, D.C.-based health care accrediting organization that establishes quality standards for the health care industry.

MedRisk is among the first companies to receive accreditation for both the privacy and security components of URAC’s new HIPAA Accreditation programs.

According to Jerry Poole, COO, both parts are vital to MedRisk’s business model. “First, as a manager of specialty medical networks, MedRisk needs to safeguard the personal health information of our clients’ claimants, he said. “Second, as a provider of expert systems to insurers, we need to ensure that our information technology is reliable and secure. URAC HIPAA accreditation is the ‘gold standard’ that demonstrates our achievement of these objectives.”

MedRisk’s focus on workers’ compensation claims, which are largely exempted from HIPAA regulations, was not an issue, according to MedRisk Director of Operations Susan Boclair.

“Both providers and payers have come to expect HIPAA-compliant policies and procedures from their business associates. We assume HIPAA applies to everything we do then modify our processes only where workers’ comp requirements override those standards.”