On Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 3:26 PM, Laurie Wheat <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hello and thank you for this article.  I find this sad but so true about
> how healthcare organizations are handling the transition to and adoption
> of EHR/EMR.  However, companies (for the most part) that sell these
> systems do not talk with their clients about what to do with the paper
> medical chart when they are discussing the software and then the client
> is left to decide on their own how to "get" these records into the
> software.  We deal with these clients all the time and actually, they
> make up a large part of our business.  A large portion of the physicians
> and OM's don't know the retention laws surrounding medical records (they
> vary according to specialty and state) and the cost for duplicating
> efforts is astronomical.

Laurie,

In addition to the various retention requirements you mention - health
care providers that service Medicaid patients need to be aware that
some states require them to maintain the paper documents for audit
purposes.  My last employer had operations in all 50 states plus DC
and I ended up surveying every one of them.  What I found was that at
least 15 states still wanted to see original signatures while another
six or seven more wouldn't commit one way or another.  We leaned on
the conservative side and ended up sending them to storage after they
were scanned.  I was told by a few state reps that if we couldn't
produce the documents during an audit we might be forced to reimburse
the state.

Bruce White, CRM, PMP
Newtown Square, PA
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

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