Question

As a manager of a small, solo physician office clinic, the physician presents a concern that was brought up by a patient. The hospital that the physician is affiliated with recently purged the medical records department in preparation for a computer upgrade, and the patient found a dumpster out back with patient’s full medical records sitting in the open, available for anyone to see. The patient is concerned as they have records in the hospital, as well as other family members having records in the hospital. For this week’s assignment: Create a response to the patient detailing the expectations for records maintained and proper destruction in layman’s terms so that the patient understands the process and requirements. Outline a plan of action that will be taken by the physician and office manager to address this situation with the hospital, detailing the requirements established by CMS and the state health department. Create a public release for the patient population to provide notification of the situation and how it will be rectified.

Answer 1

Medical records are the document that explains all detail about the patient’s history, clinical findings, diagnostic test results, pre and postoperative care, patient’s progress and medication. If written correctly, notes will support the doctor about the correctness of treatment .i would ensure the patient that we value the importance of their medical reports and make him undertstand that we are applying a electronic information record system in the hospital which would protect and save the privacy of their records. we also destroy the old records completely with no paper left for others to steal.

the plan would include the establishment of Health information technology in the clinic in which allows comprehensive management of medical information and its secure exchange among health care consumers and providers. More and more health care providers are using Health IT ; in particular, EHR. The HHS and CMS support the use of EHRs and have committed to a goal that by 2014, most Americans will have access to health care providers who use EHRs. The expected benefits of the EHR include: better patient/resident care, reduced costs to providers, and reduced costs to Medicare and Medicaid.

Public release-

To all patients, we understand your safety and how your information is important for your to be safe. so that is why we are implementing HIT guided by CMS and state health department to ensure that the information of each and every patient is secure and safe. We also ensure that any physical and hard copy of your records will not be found in our clinic as we would destroy them in order to remain protected from stealing it from outsiders.this new system upgrad would remove medical and report errors and ensure the quality care to our patients.Hope you would understand this and comply with the system in the clinic.