Revenue Cycle Insider

Question: Our office is looking to cut costs but also allow employees to work remotely a few days a week. Is it unethical to ask them to use their own personal laptops instead of providing computers for them?

Tennessee Subscriber

Answer: When contemplating the idea of asking employees to use their personal computers for work, several important factors need to be considered. The primary concern revolves around the handling of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and protected health information (PHI), which is a routine part of day-to-day business in the medical coding field.

While using personal laptops can save the company on the initial hardware costs, it may place an undue financial burden on employees who may be expected to upgrade their personal equipment to meet work requirements.

When you ask employees to use their own devices, the control over critical security measures like firewalls and antivirus protection is lost. This could potentially compromise the confidentiality of sensitive patient data. It is important to ensure that any device used for work-related tasks adheres strictly to HIPAA regulations to maintain the integrity and security of patient information.

Also, cutting expenses by trusting employees to keep up with reputable antivirus and firewall protection could also cost you legally and financially in the long run should any of those regulations and patient protections be violated.

By providing equipment for your employees directly, you can be confident that your information technology (IT) department has installed all necessary programs to keep your patient files safe and secure and you can run updates as needed.

Lindsey Bush, BA, MA, CPC, Production Editor, AAPC