Which Is a Legal Consideration That Applies to the Retention of Health Care Records

• Establishes policies and procedures for on-site and off-site storage of medical records. There are many types of patient-identifiable data elements extracted from the patient`s medical record that are not included in the statutory health record or established record definitions. Administrative data and derived data and documents are two examples of patient identification data used in the healthcare organization. Administrative data is patient-identifiable data used for administrative, regulatory, operational and payment (financial) purposes. Examples of administrative data: Organizations must have policies in place that govern the retention of electronic records and documents. As EHRs become more universal, the problem should be mitigated, as electronic data storage is relatively inexpensive and accessible. However, those who still use paper documents find themselves in a confusing and costly situation where cumbersome paper documents have to be kept for long periods of time. That said, every physician`s office should create a record-keeping policy based primarily on medical considerations and continuity of care. You should contact your health insurance provider and legal representative before concluding. Some practices offer this policy to new patients as part of their “Introduction to Practice” materials. If patients are informed in advance of how their medical records will be handled, they are much less likely to complain to the Medical Board if or when pediatricians close their practices. While there are non-legal reasons for one party to request medical records, a request for medical records can be a precursor to future litigation and should serve as a red flag for your organization and be communicated internally in the chain of command. This is especially important if the claim is a result of a Sentinel event or incident that could result in a negligence claim.

Each state has specific retention requirements that should be used to determine the organization`s retention policy. Please refer to your state`s laws for country-specific retention requirements. When defining the specified record, the privacy policy does not specifically refer to source data such as pathology slides, diagnostic films, and traces. However, the narrative text throughout the preamble suggests that it would be generally acceptable to provide interpretations from the source data in the intended set of records. In most cases, individuals cannot interpret the source data, so the data is meaningless. On the other hand, interpretations of source data provide individuals with the information they need to make informed decisions about their health care. It should be noted that these expectations relate only to board investigations and are without prejudice to other legal or ethical retention obligations. Licensees are encouraged to seek advice from private legal counsel and/or their malpractice insurance provider. Transcribed operational reports submitted to the affected entity The opposite view is that if external records have been relied upon to make care decisions, they should be included in the legal record.

In addition, the College of American Pathologists requires the laboratory director to be involved in selecting laboratory results to be included in the EHR. The following table provides examples of documents that are not in the specified recordset. Organizations should follow the following common principles when defining their medical records and legislated record sets. • Conclusion of commercial partnership agreements with external service providers with whom the firm may enter into a contract for the storage, retrieval and/or destruction of medical records on behalf of the practice. This practice review compiles and updates the guidelines of four previously published practice descriptions to provide an overview of the objectives of the established dataset and the legal health record, and to assist organizations in determining what information should be included in each. It also includes guidelines for the disclosure of medical records of the sets. The four original exercise descriptions are listed in the “Sources” section at the end of this exercise summary. The following required elements must be present in all medical records: You want to ensure that once you are informed of each individual incident, you take the opportunity to address the direct and root causes and eliminate opportunities for improvement to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.