RECORD CONTROL

Record Control

Record Control

In the small, medium, and large facilities there are some similarities and differences in circulation, tracking, and security measures. The majority of small facilities are still using paper charts and most of these facilities have a need for circulation and have different l locations for their charts. These small facilities also have problems with having the wrong papers in the patient's charts and having misplaced papers. Most of the small facilities keep their patients' charts locked and secured. If these small facilities lose a chart they really have no way to replace them since they are on paper and not electronic. As far as the patients that no longer visit the facility they usually have them destroyed after so many years or they are in an archive. In the medium size facilities there is a mixture of paper charts and electronic charts. The medium facilities that use electronic charts do not have a need for circulation or do not have different locations for their charts. The medium facilities that have charts have different locations for their charts and have a need to circulate. These medium facilities have problems with misplaced charts, lost papers, or coding/billing problems. The facilities that still use paper charts have them locked up and the ones that use electronic charts have them password protected. The medium facilities keep their patients privacy by upholding the HIPAA laws or having the charts where no one can see them.

Each facility has adopted their own way of doing things and the employees have learned when working in that facility. Each facility seems to with hold the HIPAA laws and keeps patients files secured. If the staff members, whether they work in a small, medium, or large facility were not following their facilities procedures it could really mess up the way things run in that office. If staff members were to leave computers on or leave charts out then the patients privacy would have. violated. Whether someone works in a small, medium, or large facility they must learn the way things are ran so they can ensure that they withhold the privacy of the patients at all time. Whether you work with paper charts or electronic charts, patient's charts should always be protected and the right papers should be put in the right chart. Staff members must be careful when documenting what diagnosis needs to be put in so that the wrong diagnosis is not being documented. If any of these procedures are not violated then the facilities would not be withholding the HIPAA laws and insurance companies may not be paying for certain procedures since it was documented wrong. No matter what facility a person works in, the patient's privacy should be kept confidential and HIPAA laws should be enforced. If any of these are violated the facility could be looking at fines or even worse they may close down.

Having a staff ratio that can lead to short cuts by staff to get things done faster and ...