How to Record a HIPAA-Compliant Group Clinic Voicemail Script
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Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996—more commonly known as HIPAA—therapists, clinicians, and other mental health providers can use voicemail as a way to communicate with clients.
But in order for your group clinic voicemail to be HIPAA compliant, there are certain steps you need to take to protect your clients’ privacy—and that includes recording a HIPAA-compliant group practice voicemail.
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about how to record a HIPAA-compliant clinic voicemail—including how HIPAA applies to voicemail, recording tips, and a sample clinic voicemail script you can customize for your own clinic voicemail or group practice after hours message.
How does HIPAA apply to clinic voicemail?
Before we jump into how to record a HIPAA-compliant group practice voicemail, let’s quickly cover how HIPAA applies to clinic voicemail.
“HIPAA applies to voicemail in the context of protecting clients’ PHI (protected health information),” says Heidi Faust, Chief Compliance Officer at group therapy practice Thriveworks. “Voicemail messages can potentially contain PHI, which includes any individually identifiable health information related to a patient’s medical history, treatment, or payment for healthcare services.”
For example, a client might call a therapist in crisis and reveal personal details about their mental health. Under HIPAA (and, more specifically, the HIPAA Security Rule), therapists and group practices are required to take any and all necessary actions to keep their clinic voicemail secure.
“The ‘Security Rule’ requires appropriate safeguards to be in place to protect electronic PHI (ePHI), including voicemail systems,” says Faust.
A big part of protecting voicemails in your practice is putting security measures in place, such as “implementing access controls, encryption, and audit controls to prevent unauthorized access to voicemail messages containing PHI,” says Faust.
It’s also important to use HIPAA-compliant tools, providers, and partners to receive and store your voicemails.
HIPAA doesn’t just apply to messages people leave for your practice. In addition to protecting incoming messages, it’s also important to ensure the outgoing message on your clinic voicemail is in line with HIPAA regulations.
So what, exactly, does that look like?
Tips to record a HIPAA-compliant group practice voicemail message
Let’s take a look at a few key tips on how to record a group practice voicemail message that is functional, effective, and HIPAA compliant—and helps you get the information you need from voicemail messages while protecting both your clients and your group practice.
Include key information about your group practice
When a client reaches out to a therapist or group practice, it’s important to let them know that they’ve reached the right number, even if no one is available to answer the phone.
This is why it’s important to include information about your practice in your voicemail message, such as:
- The name of your practice
- The name of each therapist/clinician
- Your business owners
In addition to identifying information, you should also highlight that your voicemail is confidential, which can put clients at ease.
It can also be helpful to include your practice’s standard voicemail return timeframe (for example, within one business day) so that callers know when they can expect to hear back from you.
Highlight information and resources for callers experiencing an emergency
There are many reasons why a person might call a mental health practice, ranging from non-urgent issues like rescheduling an upcoming appointment, to urgent, time-sensitive emergencies, like a crisis.
If a client is experiencing an emergency, it’s important that they get an immediate response, attention, and/or support—which they won’t get by leaving a voicemail.
Make sure to highlight that if clients are experiencing an emergency, they should immediately hang up and call 911.
For callers that aren’t in immediate danger but still want real-time support, you might consider including additional resources in your voicemail message—like a local mental health organization or 24/7 hotline/text service, such as 988.
Instruct callers on what to include—and what not to include—in their message
Your voicemail should also clearly outline what you want your clients to include in their voicemail.
For example, you might instruct callers to leave:
- Their name
- Their phone number
- The day and time they called
- The therapist/clinician they’re trying to reach
- A brief message outlining what they’re calling about
- The best time to call them back
In addition to letting callers know what to include in their message, you should also suggest what not to include. Specifically, let them know to avoid leaving any sensitive, personal information that could lead to HIPAA non-compliance if there was a security breach or issue (like an external party accessing your voicemail).
“In order to limit the sharing of sensitive information, your general answering message for a group practice voicemail should instruct the client not to divulge any medical details,” says Faust.
Segment your voicemails
When someone calls into a group practice, by definition, there are multiple people they may be trying to reach. If their only option is to leave a general message for the practice as a whole—instead of their specific provider—it could lead to HIPAA issues. (As anyone with access to the general voicemail may hear their message, even if the content was specifically meant for their therapist.)
In order to protect patient privacy, group practices should segment their voicemail and give callers the opportunity to leave either a general voicemail (for example, if it is a new potential client calling to ask about services) or a voicemail for a specific provider or employee within the office (for example, a therapist or the billing department to discuss an insurance issue).
Many voicemail providers allow you to segment your voicemails by instructing callers to press a specific number on their phone, which directs them to a separate voicemail for that clinician, employee, or department. For example, callers may be directed to press 1 to reach Jessica, press 2 to reach John, or press 3 to reach billing.
To avoid voicemails going to the wrong person, you can also consider getting separate phone numbers for each therapist.
“To provide an additional layer to protect PHI at Thriveworks, rather than having voicemails go to a reception department, our clinicians each have their own direct phone number where clients can call them and leave voicemails,” says Faust.
In addition to supporting HIPAA compliance by ensuring that each voicemail gets to the right person within your practice, segmenting your voicemail can also be a helpful tool for organizing messages for your practice.
For example, if you frequently get referrals from other clinicians or calls from your insurance providers, you could assign each a separate voicemail (“Press 4 if you’re a clinician or mental health provider, press 5 if you’re an insurance representative”) to ensure all relevant voicemails are grouped together.
Sample clinic voicemail script
Need some inspiration for your group clinic voicemail? Here’s a sample script that you can customize for your practice:
Hi! You’ve reached the confidential voicemail of [insert group practice name].
If this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 911 or 988.
Our hours of operation are [insert days and hours of operation]. If you’re receiving this message, we’re either unavailable to take your call or you’ve reached us outside of our normal business hours, which are [insert days and hours of operation].
If you’re a clinician, please press [insert number].
If you’re an insurance provider or calling on behalf of an insurance company, please press [insert].
If you’re calling for a member of our clinical team, you can reach them directly as follows:
For [insert clinician name], press [insert number].
For [insert clinician name], press [insert number].
For [insert clinician name], press [insert number].
For billing questions, press [insert number].
For scheduling, press [insert number].
For general practice messages, please press [insert number] and leave your name, phone number, and a brief message and a member of our team will get back to you within [insert return timeframe].
Thanks and have a great day!
Don’t forget about outgoing voicemails
One other thing to keep in mind is that HIPAA doesn’t just apply to people calling into your clinic voicemail—it also applies when you, the therapist, are the one making the call.
If you’re planning to communicate with clients via voicemail, make sure to get their permission first. And when you do leave a message, make sure not to include any sensitive information in order to protect their confidentiality. For example, avoid saying any personal health information or disclosure that you’re treating them for a mental health condition. Instead, keep your message more general.
“Therapists should always ensure that they have written consent from their clients to reach out to them via voicemail,” says Faust. “And even when explicit consent is provided—and although voicemails can be seen as being done in the ‘regular course of business’—they should still follow the minimum necessary rule to share the least amount of information as possible in order to achieve the task at hand.”
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