HIPAA Challenges for Modern Translation Technologies

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was signed into law in 1996 with the primary purpose of ensuring the protection of patients’ sensitive information. The legislation focuses on the protection of Personal Health Information (PHI) from unauthorized disclosure without the patients’ explicit consent.

To achieve this goal, the act includes several key provisions designed to safeguard this information:

The Privacy Rule: sets national standards for the protection of PHI and gives patients control over how their information is used and disclosed.

The Security Rule: establishes national standards for protecting electronic PHI (ePHI) that is created, received, used, or maintained by a covered entity.

The Breach Notification Rule: requires covered entities to notify individuals, the HHS Secretary, and, in some cases, the media of a breach of unsecured PHI.

Why is HIPAA Important?

HIPAA ensures the privacy and security of patients’ sensitive information. This information includes medical records, treatment plans, payment information, and any other identifying data that could put an individual’s health or well-being at risk if disclosed.

It is designed to:

Establishtrust between patients and healthcare providers by ensuring the confidentiality of sensitive information.
Encourages the use of electronic health records (EHRs)to streamline communication and improve patient care while maintaining privacy.
Hold individuals and organizations accountablefor protecting PHI through strict penalties for violations.

Who has to follow HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets the standard for protecting sensitive patient information. It applies to various organizations and individuals that handle health information. To ensure compliance and safeguard patient data, certain entities are required to adhere to HIPAA regulations.

Covered entities include:

Healthcare Providers:These are individuals or organizations that provide medical or health services and transmit health information electronically in connection with HIPAA-covered transactions. Examples include doctors, clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes.
Health Plans:This category includes health insurance companies, HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations), and government programs like Medicare and Medicaid that pay for or provide health care.
Healthcare Clearinghouses:These are organizations that process health information and facilitate the exchange of information between healthcare providers and health plans. They act as intermediaries to help standardize and process electronic transactions.

HIPAA Compliance and Machine Translation Engines

Technology is on the rise, and so is the diversification of our population. 21.6% of the US population speaks a different language at home (U.S. Census Bureau). Because of this, it is not surprising that many healthcare organizations use machine translation for multilingual conversations with patients.

However, without properly evaluating the tools being used, you could be putting both you and your patients at risk.

Popular machine translation engines, such as Google Translate, Microsoft Translate and ChatGPT are not HIPAA Compliant as they fail to:

Ensure data confidentiality, as machine translation engines often store and process data on external servers.
Guarantee end-to-end encryption,with many machine translation services not providing the necessary security for electronic PHI during transmission and processing.
Secure user consent,as these engines typically do not have a robust mechanism for obtaining explicit patient consent before processing sensitive health information.
Regulate access control,with machine translation tools lacking stringent measures to ensure that only authorized personnel can access and handle PHI.
Maintainaudit trails, as many translation engines do not provide comprehensive logging and tracking, making it difficult to monitor access to PHI.
Comply withbreach notification standards, with these services often lacking protocols to promptly notify affected individuals, the HHS Secretary, and other necessary parties in case of data breaches.
Provide Business Associate Agreements (BAAs),with machine translation companies often not entering into legally required agreements with healthcare entities, failing to delineate responsibility and ensure HIPAA compliance.

Additional Risks of Machine Translation in Healthcare

While the lack of HIPAA compliance is a significant concern, it’s also important to recognize that machine translation engines pose additional risks within the healthcare context. One major drawback is the absence of human oversight in the translation process, which can lead to insensitivities, cultural misinterpretations, or inappropriate language that may distress patients or cause misunderstandings.

Machine translations also often use direct translations that fail to convey nuanced medical terminology or context-specific information, resulting in a loss of critical details for patient care. For instance, subtle differences in phrasing can alter medical instructions, potentially jeopardizing patient safety. In a field where clarity and precision are crucial, the inability of machine translation tools to handle these nuances can significantly impact patient outcomes.

How Propio Minimizes the Risk

Propio places a strong emphasis on protecting the privacy and security of patients’ health information by adhering to HIPAA guidelines. We ensure that all our processes are secure and compliant, even when utilizing advanced machine translation technologies for less critical information, allowing for faster turnaround times and cost savings without compromising security.

Ensuring HIPAA Compliance

Propio is committed to the highest standards of data protection through:

Business Associate Agreements (BAAs): We sign BAAs with healthcare organizations, ensuring clear responsibilities and compliance with HIPAA regulations.

Regular Audits and Training: Our employees undergo continuous training and regular audits to maintain strict adherence to HIPAA guidelines.

Secure Communication Channels: We use encrypted channels for transmitting electronic PHI, ensuring data security during the transfer.

Explicit Patient Consent: We obtain explicit consent from patients before processing their sensitive health information.

Stringent Access Controls: Access to PHI is restricted to authorized personnel only, ensuring robust protection against unauthorized access.

Detailed Audit Records: We maintain comprehensive audit trails to monitor and track all access to PHI.

Secure Use of Machine Translation Engines

Our approach ensures:

Secure API Usage: We utilize API keys for machine translation, which provide output without sending any input back to the providers. This one-way flow of data ensures that no patient information is harvested or used to train external engines.

Controlled Environment: Whether using untrained or trained models from providers like Google or Microsoft, our implementation within a secure, controlled environment protects sensitive data.

Human Oversight: Our “human in the loop” method combines advanced technology with expert linguistic review, ensuring translations are not only accurate but also culturally sensitive. This approach helps catch nuances that machines might overlook, resulting in higher-quality translations that resonate with patients and healthcare providers.

Meeting HIPAA Standards with Effective and Culturally Sensitive Translation Solutions

Propio recognizes the potential risks associated with emerging technologies and prioritizes maintaining HIPAA compliance. By integrating human expertise with advanced technology, we provide translations that are both accurate and culturally sensitive. Our commitment to stringent security measures and patient privacy helps mitigate the risks posed by new technologies.

Ready to improve your translation processes while staying compliant? Contact us today to learn how Propio can support your needs.