>>As this story shows, maybe medical records should be kept longer as a
matter or course or the patient given the option to receive them prior to
their disposal.<<
Just like the option IM is providing to former patients at the PA hospital.
Perhaps patients need to take a more proactive view of the medical record
and retain their own copy if it is important. Personally, I would guess
that I have been treated in clinics and hospitals in at least a dozen
states, maybe more (I was accident prone when I was younger). I would not
expect all of those facililities to retain medical records on me for
extended periods of time. My chances of ever going back to any of them is
very remote.
On the professional side, I worked with a clinic in ND in oilfield country.
They had thousands and thousands of files on oil patch employees and their
families that left town for greener pastures in the early 1980's when the
boom went bust. They were looking at spending a considerable sum to expand
their filing system. A much better approach was to implement a retention
policy and destroy records of folks who had not sought care for years.
While sending a letter to their last known address would have sounded like a
good idea, their last known address was local, often times in care of a
company who had closed offices 10-15 years earlier.
Finally, another clinic I worked with had an individual that spent two days
a week comparing obits from across the state to medical records. The
purpose was to identify the files of the past patients and to let their
physician know that they had passed away. Tedious work at best and by their
own admission, removed only a very small percentage of the files that would
be eligible for destruction due to the death of the patient. However, when
you are bursting at the seams, every little bit of space helps.
Bill R
On 9/17/07, Trudy M Phillips <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Tim,
> I would agree with your comment. As this story shows, maybe medical
> records
> should be kept longer as a matter or course or the patient given the
> option to
> receive them prior to their disposal.
>
> Trudy M. Phillips
> File Management, LLC
> "Bringing Order Out of Chaos"
> 8440 Lanewood Circle
> Leeds, AL 35094
> Office: 205/699-8571 Fax: 205/699-3278 _www.filemanagement.com_
> (http://www.filemanagement.com/)
> We now have a Huntsville office.
>
>
>
>
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