I'm a health information professional who has managed medical record
departments in a number of hospitals, and am currently working for a
vendor storing patient records offsite.

> Medical records- hmmm.
> I've lost medical records to office closure/illegal disposal, a
> bankrupcy (records went where?) and a doctor simply disappearing.

In my experience, the records seldom sometimes - but seldom -
'disappear' when a medical practice does.  Usually the bankruptcy court
controls them, and may place them in storage with a vendor.  Often a
neighboring hospital may take control of the records, depending on the
type of practice and relationship with the facility.  Check with the
state department of health and/or the state medical society -- filing a
complaint with them can assist.

> Don't get me wrong, it's not that I think there isn't a time and place
for the move to EMR/EHR, bu the groundwork needs to be done to ensure it
works properly... and we RIMs should be part of how this > is designed.

A profession that is actively involved in this for electronic medical
records/electronic health records is the American Health Information
Management Association (AHIMA) - of which I am a proud member.

Liz Allan, RHIA
Director of Client Programs
SOURCECORP Deliverex
San Jose, CA

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