Fundamental Safety Certifications for Medical Couriers

It’s important that your medical courier is compliant with the latest medical safety standards for handling and transporting medical specimens, documents, and other sensitive materials.  

Improper handling of sensitive materials can put couriers and patients at risk and put businesses responsible for said materials in a position of risk and liability as well. 

Here are two fundamental safety certifications that every medical courier should require for their drivers.

HIPAA Certification

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), enacted in 1996, establishes national standards for the transmission of protected healthcare information (PHI) with the goal of ensuring patient privacy. HIPAA also defines health records and determines who has the right to access such records and for what purpose.

It is vital that medical couriers treat all patient information as private. This includes patient records, samples, and any patient information that have been overheard while working in the laboratory or physician office. Leaked personal health information not only infringes on personal privacy but can also put a covered entity, such as a medical courier, in a position of risk and liability. Any medical courier must follow HIPAA standards for protecting patient privacy and train their employees to do so as well.

What Am-Tran does to uphold HIPAA standards

• All drivers are HIPAA certified
• All driver are required to complete a training course on HIPAA regulations and proper practices to protect patient information

Bloodborne pathogens awareness

Bloodborne Pathogens awareness is an OSHA standard (29 CFR 1910.1030) that prescribes safeguards to protect workers against health hazards related to bloodborne pathogens. Bloodborne pathogens are disease-causing microorganisms present in blood and other potentially infectious materials. 

Medical couriers with employees who may be exposed to bloodborne pathogens must have an exposure control plan in place. The exposure control plan should include steps to educate employees on the types and hazards of bloodborne pathogens as well as the proper precautions to take given the potential exposures. 

What Am-Tran does to uphold bloodborne pathogen safety standards

• All drivers are required to complete a safety training course on the subject
• Drivers take universal precautions, meaning all possible precautions are taken regardless whether or not a specimen is potentially infectious
• Drivers and vehicles are equipped with engineering controls to isolate or remove bloodborne pathogen hazards
• Drivers must use personal protective equipment (PPE) like nitrile gloves whenever handling specimens to limit exposure to potentially infectious materials
• Drivers are required to follow strict hand washing procedures and are equipped with sanitizing solution for times when soap and water aren’t readily available
• Am-Tran has a thorough exposure control plan in place that outlines protocols for safe handling of specimens and incident reporting