We take confidentiality very seriously at BHRW. This is the reason why we have a secure office and the levels of security maintained on our database.

Clinical staff is bound by the ethical and confidentiality requirements of their professions. Every case we open begins with an explanation of confidentiality and the question “did you understand the statement or have any questions about confidentiality.” All cases are encrypted prior to being sent to clients. Clients can only access cases using a secure password. The system of sending cases is automated so there is no opportunity for human error.

BHRW complies with HIPAA guidelines and complies with state and federal privacy laws. We have a covered entity and Business Associate Agreement with most of our clients. Our HIPAA compliance officer is a member of the State HIPAA advisory board. Every employee must complete HIPAA training and successfully pass a post-test annually. HR requires every staff member to sign a confidentiality agreement annually.

BHRW’s quality manager has almost 10 years of clinical and management experience at BHRW. She is a licensed clinician and reports directly to the VP responsible for compliance and security including HIPAA. Our quality control process is continuously evaluated and improved. The quality committee is currently meeting weekly to review all of our disaster recovery and security processes. Written protocols are reviewed annually.
In the call center, we have dedicated peer review team comprised of 11 clinicians who review and rate clinical documentation to ensure we are meeting our customer standards. Reviews are triggered by:

Reviews are standardized and adhere to protocol. The Quality Manager trains the peer review team. The peer review teams are members of the clinical staff who are trained to review several key points of call documentation. Reviews are submitted to the Quality Manager for tracking, trending and feedback. Each team member is assigned to one or two accounts depending on the call volume of these accounts. The goal is to identify issues and trends and to make recommendations for resolution. BHRW is a teaching organization so the goal of reviews is not only to identify problems but to look for opportunities to educate. We focus on training and supporting staff through clarifying protocol and question sets to improve adherence to customer’s expectations. 

We also use live monitoring of calls for quality improvement purposes. A member of the review team or the Quality Manager can monitor calls with or without the knowledge of the counselor taking the call. During new employee training the counselor can listen to an experienced CIC taking a call and in turn the CIC can listen to a new employee handle a call. Calls can be monitored without the CIC’s knowledge for any reason, but especially if there has been a customer service complaint.

When there is a concern, complaint or inquiry about a case, the case is submitted to the Quality Manager for review. The manager will review the information, documentation, script and protocols and finally work with the appropriate supervisor to address the concern. The supervisor will meet with the staff member to review the case and the complaint as an opportunity for coaching or retraining if necessary.

Information obtained by the supervisor is communicated back to the Quality Manager and resolution is submitted to Business Development. The concern or complaint is considered resolved when BHRW and the customer are satisfied that the situation was handled satisfactorily.