Re: Medical Records loss

From: Sassie (sassiegurl13_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 10/28/04 

Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 09:25:44 -0400

Jeannie H Wilson wrote:
> Monday afternoon a medical complex down the road from my house caught fire.
> There were many medical offices in that same building that was a total loss.
> The newspaper quoted a few doctors stating that their medical records were a
> total loss. I find it amazing that in this day and age, there are offices who
> still have no computerized version of their records. But then, I realize that
> one of my accounts now, finally, is in the digital age. When my service took
> over the account, all of their reports were printed and brought into them.
> They never got a hard copy like a disc in case the reports were lost. They
> have since found many missing reports and are having to re-dictate them and
> have my service type them. I know that with HIPAA it is difficult to have
> copies of records or records backed up somewhere for fear of more records =
> more of a chance for a breach, but what in the world are these people going to
> do now that their medical records went up in flames? This, of course, has got
> me to thinking and I am trying to get the information of exactly which docs
> offices were total losses and market my service to them. Apparently many of
> them used 1-2 people to do their transcription out of house - not really
> services - and that person also has no backup copy of the reports. I hate to
> take someone else's bread and butter but honestly, they need to get up with the
> times! Any thoughts on this?

I have my reports on my hard drive on my computer, on a server that my
husband maintains
here at home (he is in network security), and I burn a copy of the
reports to CD and
give my doctor a copy of the CD and I keep a copy of the CD in a
fireproof safe.
When the safe starts to fill up, I'm going to have to buy a file cabinet
that locks and
is fireproof as well. But I agree with you that having only one
copy....a hard copy
even....is irresponsible in this day and age. With the number of
malpractice lawsuits
ever increasing, a doctor has to cover his *** and needs all of his
documentation to be
there if ever he needs it.

By the way, my doctor's practice has a big 6ft tall Fort Knox kind of
safe in their office
that they keep things in and he is the only doctor in that practice that
has his reports on
CD in there. The other doctors use the transcription service provided
by the practice
management company and they have it on one server and a hard copy in the
office. The
back ups are not secured at all. They better hope they never have a fire.

Sassie 

-- 
American by birth.
Southern by the grace of God.
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