wch presenting in your hands are full,€¦ · the superior level of expertise in urology coding...
TRANSCRIPT
see on page 6 see on page 7 see on page 9 see on page 12
see on page 4
Urology We Have You Covered, Find Out What Our Clients are getting!
Sales Tax is Part of Every Business, Including Now WCH
WCH Presenting in the Upcoming Adult Day Care Conference, Are You Coming?
Your Hands are FULL, Let Us Handle Your Medication Management
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
4-13
WCH Buzz
Get your CEU credits TODAYFor more information please CONTACT USat 718-934-6714 x 1202 or by e-mail to: [email protected]
FOLLOW US:
Your Feedback is Important to Us, WCH itLet us know what topics you would like to see inthe upcoming issues. We are always looking forward to your feedback about our performance.
15-18
Healthcare News
19
News by State
20-22
Questions &Answers
Welcome to our Autumn Edition!See our Holiday Schedule
on page 10
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What does your EHR vendor do for you?
Now when we have earned your confidence dealing with the most sensitive part of your business - your money, you can rely on us for all of your EHR needs.
When our IT developers sat down with our health care specialist to design tem-plates for our iSmart EHR, they had one question in mind, “how to construct a full medical record in minimal time?” Which inevitably led to a second ques-tion: “How to simplify the process of documentation? ”
The result is customized templates for Mental Health, Internal Medicine, Physical Therapy, General Medicine spe-cialties, that require minimal input time to create a complete medical record. We love our clients and understand what they need. We developed and designed new templates in our iSmart EHR that make the navigation of our EHR more pleasant and enjoyable. We created simple drop down and click templates to ease documentation and increase efficiency. Templates for car-diology, podiatry and urology are currently in development.
Once again life shows that collaboration work between WCH and our clients brings wonderful results. We know that your EHR must simplify your work, save your time and that is exactly what WCH does for you. We strongly believe that Together we can transform medical office overhead head-aches into a nice, smooth and joyful busi-ness operations
CONTACT US TODAY to take a look at the templates for yourself.
Telephone: (718) 934 6714, 888-WCHEXPERTS
Email: [email protected]
Website: ismartehr.com
New Customized EHR Templates Building specialty customized templates that will save you time! Here are new templates designed with the help of our clients.
WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com 5
WCH Buzz
WCH BuzzWCH Buzz
WCH team wants to extend our congratu-lations to Oksana Pokoyeva, CPC, CPMA, CUC, for passing the Certified Urology Cod-er Exam and thus adding CUC to her title. This is an honor and a personal accomplish-ment for all of us as a company as well as for Oksana’s personal growth. Oksana’s hard work is very much appreciated and valued. We understand that it takes a great deal of effort and determination to keep ad-vancing and growing professionally. The dil-igence and effort given by Oksana Pokoyeva should serve as an example and inspiration to all WCH Team members.
Oksana’s CUC certification and title brings a new set of tools to WCH. We are now able to provider better services to our valued cli-ents.
The superior level of expertise in urology coding will bring about the following ben-efits to our current and future Urology phy-sicians: • Proficient understanding of physician of-
fice notes and operative notes that en-able to apply correct Diagnosis, proce-dure and modifier coding
• Solid knowledge of rules and regulations of Medicare billing including incident to, teaching situations, shared visits, consul-tations and global surgery
• Expertise in coding of ancillary proce-dures performed in a urology practice such as urinalysis, injections, etc.
• Capability of coding surgical procedures performed by urologists such as cystos-copies, biopsies, prostactetomies, etc.
• Proficiency in time-based coding
• Understanding medical terminology and anatomy and physiology
Once again Cogratulations Oksana Pokoyeva, CPC, CPMA, CUC! Thank you for your continued excellence over the many years of service to WCH!We are proud of you!
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WCH BuzzWCH Buzz
EHR TAX As an official Electronic Health Record Vendor,WCH Service Bureau has obtained a Certificateof Authority.
WCH has registered with the Tax Department and ob-tained a Certificate of Authority. The Certificate of Au-thority now obligates WCH to collect sales tax on its taxable sales and accept most New York State sales tax exemption certificates.
In pursuant to New York state regulations, a New York Sales Tax will be added to the invoice for the use of WCH iSmart EHR product. All iSmart EHR users are subject to sales tax, 8.875% tax charge will be added to the invoice for the use of the iSmart EHR system. WCH Service Bureau has amended EHR software licensing agreement with Sales Tax statement
As reported in WCH Times, Summer 2013 Issue: WCH is contracted with Experian Credit Bureau.
As part of our commitmen for excellence in cash flow management, WCH continues to work with Experian Credit Bureau to keep improving operation efficiency. Experian produces credit reports that measures and records company’s and its client’s payment habits to ensure that cash flow and rev-enue processes are up to date. All clients’ accounts are recorded by Experian in order to ensure constant cash follow so that WCH
can meet its obligations to suppliers, cus-tomers and employees.
On a monthly basis, WCH reports to Ex-perian on the payer receivables schedule, in order to avoid future losses and help stay on top of the financial wellbeing of the company.
We remind you that all of your payments are reported to credit bureau, untimely payment might lead to negative posting in your credit history.
EXPERIAN
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WCH Buzz
Beware! Changes are coming from Office of Mental Health.Effective January, 2015 Behavioral Health benefits that are covered for OASAS services (substance abuse, counseling, etc) by Med-icaid through APG rates, will be covered by managed care plans/behavioral networks (Value Options, Beacon Health, etc). All con-tracted providers will receive updated agree-ments with the new terms of coverage and details about the changes. Once this change becomes effective, new rate codes will be billed on claims starting in 2015.
If you are a provider that got notification from OMH or related organizations about the changes, please send the information to WCH for review in order not to disrupt reim-bursement for services.
Also, please turn to WCH credentialing de-partment for any questions you might have about new enrollment as OASIS provider with these new payers!
CREDENTIALING NEWS FOR OASIS CENTERS IN NEW YORK
Telephone: 718-934-6714 x 1201, 888-WCHEXPERTS, Email: [email protected]
Credentialing Notice
Do you need annual recredentialing service?We Can Help!Contact WCH Credentialng Team at 718-934-6714 x 1201
8 WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com
WCH Buzz
NEW YORK STATE ADULT DAY SERVICE ASSOCIATION (NYSADSA) INVITES OLGA KHABINSKAY To speak at the Annual Conference in November, 2014.
Adult day care business model is completely overlooked as far as billing and credentialing, there is little to no available education for professionals in the field.
Olga’s extensive experience in field continues to draw at-tention from industry leading organizations nationwide. Olga has been invited to speak at the upcoming New York State Adult Say Service Association Annual Conference to educate participants about the following:
CONTRACTING WITH INSURANCE COMPANIES: • Requirements, time frame, process, contract rates,
negotiations
BILLING PROCESS: • Options, Available Vendors, internal authorizations,
complicated billing process, denial reason, time frame, split billing, what you need to know about reimburse-ment, patient coverage
At the NYSADSA conference Olga will provide details on all important aspects of en-rolling the business and receiving reimbursement. WCH has billing and credentialing experience for many years for this type of providers.
If you are interested to attend the conference please contact the association directly at [email protected] or visit thier website http://nysadultday.com/
If you are interested in establishing new adult day care program in your state, please contact Olga at [email protected] for more information.
Contact WCH Credentialng Team at 718-934-6714 x 1201
WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com 9
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WCH Buzz
Starting this issue we would like to tell you about famous doctors whose legacy and his-tory touched and changed how doctors treat patients. We hope you will enjoy. This month issue is dedicated to Dr. Moses Maimonides
Moses Maimonides lived from 1135/38 to 1204, he was the one of the most important Jewish philoso-pher and physician of the Middle Ages.
Maimonides was born in the Spanish city of Cordoba. However, Maimonides and his family fled to Cairo because of rising anti-Semitism in Spain. There he worked as a physician, but also became a scholar of Jewish law and a philosopher. In his mid-fifties, Maimonides was appointed as a per-sonal physician by a royal courtier and then to Saladin, the sultan of Egypt and Syria.
Dr. Maimonides believes remain a legacy among doctors and in the healthcare in general.
Maimonides wrote ten known medical works in Arabic that have been translated by the Jewish medical ethicist Fred Rosner into contemporary English. The Jewish legalist and philosopher s best known works is “ An Introduction to the Code of Mai-monides (Mishneh Torah)”
Sources: www.chabad.org , en.wikipedia.org
Well Known Doctors of Medicine
WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com 11
Your hands have more important things to do. Let us help you work smarter.
Mandatory E-Prescribing -
Beginning March 27, 2015, all prescriptions, including all controlled substances, must be transmitted electronically – paper prescriptions will no longer be acceptable. Are you ready?
www.wchsb.com [email protected] http://wchsb.com/News/blog
Medication History, Medication Adherence and E-Prescribing for Our Clients.
WCH EHR interfaced with Rcopia delivers confidence and control to your every day prescribing• Electronically prescribe controlled substances
(schedule II-V) in one workflow with our EPCS Gold℠ 2.0 add-on
• Eliminate pharmacy phone calls regarding prescription clarifications and refills
• Seamlessly order labs and radiology within the e-prescribing workflow
•
non-adherence with cutting-edge tools and resources in our Patient AdvisorSM toolbar
• Securely write and send electronic prescriptions for legend drugs to any pharmacy from any desktop, laptop or mobile device
Access 24 months of patient medication history, current formulary information, and drug-drug/drug-allergy interaction alerts
• Identify and guide patients at-risk for medication
Your Hands are Full, Let Us Handle Medication Management.
WCH joined forces with DRFIRST/Rcopia for you ERX needs
12 WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com
WCH Buzz
You’ve poured a lifetime of sweat, time, You’ve poured a lifetime of sweat, time, and capital into building your business. You’ve begun thinking about retirement, and your strategy is to sell your company for a good price, settle back, and enjoy a fi-nancially secure retirement. But, like many business owners, you’ve made the mistake of assuming this scenario will happen, and you haven’t bothered to make any other retirement plans.
You need to be realistic.What are the odds of a person showing up at the right time with cash in hand to buy the company for a fair price? For thousands of small business owners each year, no one steps forward. Perhaps the business is too specialized or is tied too closely to the own-er’s unique personality and skills. Or may-be possible buyers equate retirement sale with a distress sale and make only low-ball offers. Whatever the reason, many owners find that their company has suddenly be-come a white elephant that nobody wants.
Select and develop a successor.That’s why it’s so important to prime a re-placement—someone who will buy your company when you’re ready to retire. May-be this is a current co-owner (but be careful if he or she is about the same age as you, and planning to retire around the same time.) Or it’s your son or daughter active in the business, or a younger key employee.
Business owners who successfully groom their own replacements leave nothing to chance. They realize that there’s no room for error at the point of retirement.
Here are some steps you should take:• Be cautious. Make sure your heir ap-
parent is the right person in terms of temperament, personality, compe-tence, and personal goals.
• Set up a probation period so you can terminate the relationship if you find that this person will not work out. During that period, keep everything in-formal, strictly verbal. Even when you go to a formal agreement, make sure it contains a termination provision.
• Offer incentives to ensure that your replacement stays until the baton is passed. An ambitious successor needs and deserves gradually increasing au-thority and benefits. Options include deferred compensation or the opportu-nity to acquire partial ownership prior to your retirement. This provides both parties with something to win by stick-ing to the agreement, and something to lose if it falls apart.
The Small Business Owner’s Retirement Dilemma
WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com 13
WCH Buzz
• Create a buy-sell agreement. With the help of your attorney, lock in who does and gets what, spelling out all details and caveats, including how to establish the final valuation of the business. This formal agreement protects everybody.
• Build in a funding mechanism. This is crucial. No matter how good the terms of the buy/sell agreement, it will be worthless if the money is not there when needed to carry out the plan. Un-der one option, the successor may be able to purchase the company from on-going profits. Other options include set-ting up a sinking fund or allowing the successor to simply borrow the money. These options may work but they leave much to chance. Instead, consider a funding vehicle that protects your fam-ily in the event of your disability or pre-mature death, such as life and disability income insurance.*
• Have a Plan B. As a business owner, you know that very few things go ex-
actly as planned. What if your business hits tough times or your successor dies, becomes disabled, or leaves because of a personality conflict? Or what if there simply is no heir apparent waiting in the wings? Sometimes, it’s simply best to dismantle the business.
Whether or not you have a possible suc-cessor for your company, you should be-gin mapping out your retirement strategy today. Your insurance professional or your independent professional advisors can work with you to help you develop a sound business strategy.
If you would like to discuss your retirement options or have a general ques-tion or comment, please contact Michael Pechersky, CFA at Eagle Strategies, LLC by calling (212) 261-0239
(work), (917) 318-5504 (cell), or by e-mail at [email protected]
14 WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com
Healthcare News
Healthcare NewsMedicare Enrollment – Fingerprint Background check
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Ser-vices (CMS) awarded the Fingerprint-based Background Check contract to Accurate Biometrics located in Chicago, Illinois on July 8, 2014. Fingerprint-based background checks will be required for all individuals with a 5 percent or greater ownership in-terest in a provider or supplier that falls into the high risk category and is currently enrolled in Medicare or has submitted an initial enrollment application. The finger-print-based background requirement was implemented on August 6, 2014, and will be conducted in phases. Initially, not all pro-viders and suppliers in the “high” screening
category will be included in the first phase of the fingerprint-based background check requirement.
The high level of risk category will be ap-plied to providers and suppliers who are newly enrolling Durable Medicare Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) suppliers or Home Health Agencies (HHA). It will also apply to providers and suppliers who have been elevated to the high risk category in accor-dance with enrollment screening regula-tions.
Source: http://www.cms.gov
ICD-10 SAMPLERV95.43Spacecraft collision injuring occupant
WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com 15
Mandatory Electronic Prescribing Goes into Effect on March 27, 2015, Are You Ready?
Effective March 27, 2015 it will be man-datory for practitioners, excluding veteri-narians, to issue electronic prescriptions for controlled and non-controlled sub-stances.
Please note, it is currentlit permissible in New York State to electronically pre-scribe controlled spbstances (EPCS) in
Schedules II through V, in addition to non-conixollec substance. However, in order to process electronic prescriptions for controllec substances, a practitioner must use an electronic prescribing com-puter application that meets all federall requirements and must register the certi-fied electronic prescribing computer ap-plication with the New York State Depart-ment of Health (DOH), Bureau of Narcotic EqorceMentl (BNE). For additional infor-mation regarding the federal security re-quiremant for EPCS, ‘please visit the Drug Enforcement Administration’s web page at www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/
For information regarding the Department of Health’s regi tration process for certified electronic prescribing computer applica-tions, please visit www.nyhealth.gov
After March 27, 2015, practitioners may still use the Official New York State Prescription formls in the event of a power outage or technological failure.
16 WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com
www.ismartehr.com
Healthcare News
OIG Continues to Focus on POS Errors, and So Should YouOnce again, the OIG has included place of service (POS) errors as a focus of its annual Work Plan: We will review physicians’ cod-ing on Medicare Part B claims for services performed in ambulatory surgical centers and hospital outpatient departments to determine whether they properly coded the places of service. Context—Prior OIG reviews determined that physicians did not always correctly code nonfacility places of service on Part B claims submitted to and paid by Medicare contractors.
POS errors are more than “clerical.” As the work plan explains, “Medicare pays a phy-sician a higher amount when a service is performed in a nonfacility setting, such as a physician’s office, than it does when the service is performed in a hospital outpa-tient department or, with certain excep-tions, in an ambulatory surgical center.” Therefore, if the assigned POS on a claim is incorrect, payment may be affected.
When assigning POS codes for Medicare claims, the POS must match the setting in which the patient received the service (for face-to-face services), or the setting in which the technical portion of the service was delivered (for non-face-to-face servic-es, such as interpretation of diagnostic test results).
There are two exceptions to the rule:
1. When a physician/practitioner/supplier furnishes services to a registered inpa-tient, the inpatient hospital POS code 21 shall be used, irrespective of where the face-to-face encounter occurs.
2. Physicians/practitioners who perform services in a hospital outpatient de-partment shall use, at a minimum, POS code 22 (Outpatient Hospital) unless the physician maintains separate office space in the hospitalor on the hospital campus and that physician office space is not considered a provider-based de-partment of the hospital (see 42. C.F.R. 413.65). Physicians shall use POS code 11 (office) when services are performed in a separately maintained physician office space in the hospital or on the hospital campus and that physician of-fice space is not considered a provider-based department of the hospital.
The above guidelines were recently up-dated by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Transmittal 2679. For clari-fication, MLN Matters® Number: MM7631 Revised provides the following example.
“A beneficiary receives an MRI at an out-patient hospital near his/her home. The hospital submits a claim that would cor-respond to the TC portion of the MRI. The physician furnishes the PC portion of the beneficiary’s MRI from his/her office loca-tion—POS code 22 [outpatient hospital] will be used on the physician’s claim for the PC to indicate that the beneficiary received the face-to-face portion of the MRI, the TC, at the outpatient hospital.”
Resource tip: You can find a complete list of POS codes on the CMS website.
ICD-10 SAMPLERT73.3xxSHoliday exhaustion
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Healthcare News
18 WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com
Attention Network Providers: ValueOptions Signs Definitive Agreement to Merge with Beacon Health Strategies
We have exciting news! ValueOptions has signed a definitive agreement, whereby our company will merge with Beacon Health Strategies.
ValueOptions greatly appreciates your partnership and the work you do every day in helping individuals live their lives to the fullest potential. By bringing the com-plementary service offerings of these two companies together, we are introducing a premier behavioral health company with expanded capabilities to the marketplace to better serve our provider partners, like you.
The merger brings together two mission-driven companies that share similar vi-sions – to improve the health and social wellbeing of individuals suffering from mental health and substance abuse condi-tions through recovery-focused programs and effective provider partnerships.
Until the merger is approved by federal and state government regulators, which is expected in the later part of 2014, the companies will continue to operate as in-dependent organizations, including in our contractual arrangements with providers – nothing changes. Following the approval of the merger, ValueOptions and Beacon will endeavor to build upon our strong provider partnerships by aligning clinical management policies and streamlining our administrative processes.
We hope you share our enthusiasm for this news and look forward to continuing our partnership together in the months and years to come!
Source: www.valueoptions.com
News by State
News by StateBoard Proposes New Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee ScheduleThe New York State Workers’ Compensation Board (Board) is announcing the release of a discussion document on a proposal for a new Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Schedule.
The New York Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Schedule has remained vir-tually unchanged for more than 20 years. During that period advances in medicine have brought about changes to the cost, efficacy and availability of certain proce-dures, made other procedures obsolete, and generally altered the understanding of quality health care. The existing fee schedule has remained largely insulated from the financial and medical realities of a changing health care market. As a result, some providers and services are vastly overcompensated while others are under-compensated.
For example, the existing fee schedule al-lows for payment of almost triple the mar-ket rate for magnetic resonance imaging. A now relatively common and safe surgical procedure is paid up to 40% more under the existing fee schedule than is paid on average in general health care. Reimburse-ment for the evaluation and management of patients under workers’ compensation still fall well below that of general health. Additionally, the proposed fee schedule will be expanded to cover services not cur-rently addressed under the existing fee schedule.
Goals of a Fee Schedule UpdateBeyond correcting the misalignments with the broader healthcare context, the Board hopes to update its fee schedule annually in an easy and logical manner that will ad-equately and fairly reimburse medical pro-viders based on the cost and value of ser-vices, expand access to care, particularly to primary care specialties and control medi-cal costs.
The Fee Schedule StudyIn order to accomplish these goals, the Board began a fee schedule study. The first phase of the study was to contract with a vendor to benchmark current fee schedule rates against the actual fees paid, the Medi-care fee schedule, commercial health care payments, and other workers’ compensa-tion fee schedules.
The project studied the feasibility of and proposed a model for a new fee schedule using the RBRVS system maintained by Medicare with Board-specific conversion factors. This study considered key policy is-sues such as overall spending constraints, geographic adjustments, payment rules, use of single or multiple conversion fac-tors, and how NYS might transition to an RBRVS fee schedule. A key component of the study was to understand and quanti-fy the financial impact of a proposed fee schedule on various provider types.
Source: www.wcb.ny.gov
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Q&A
Questions and AnswersQuestion:I have a question concerning scope of practice limits for podiatry specialty. Can podiatrist perform physical therapy services for his patients as an addition-al treatment? Is here any policy outlin-ing the limit of services podiatrist can perform?
Answer:Please understand that the Department can-not offer detailed legal advice specific to the circumstances of all individuals who write to us. While we can provide general inter-pretation of relevant laws, regulations, and rules for your guidance, it should be noted that the applicability of statute and regula-tion depends on the distinctive nature of a particular circumstance, which will change from case to case. Any questions about bill-ing, coding or reimbursement by third-party insurers should be addressed to the insurer or to the New York State Department of Fi-nancial Services or the New York State De-partment of Health, which regulate insurers and managed care organizations.
The practice of podiatry is defined in section 7001 of Education Law to include “diagnos-ing, treating, operating and prescribing for any disease, injury, deformity or other con-dition of the foot, and may include perform-ing physical evaluations in conjunction with the provision of podiatric treatment.” When a licensed podiatrist treats the human foot, the licensee is practicing podiatry. When do-ing so, the podiatrist is not restricted from
using in his or her podiatric practice any of the modalities that a physical therapist may employ (Education Law section 6505), but these are podiatric modalities when used by a licensed podiatrist, and the podiatrist may use such modalities only to the extent they are within the scope of practice of podiatry.Section 6732 of the Education Law restricts the practice of physical therapy and use of the title “physical therapist” to an individual licensed or authorized pursuant to Article 136 the Education Law, which relates to physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. The podiatrist may not refer to himself as a “physical therapist” or bill for services in any manner that is unlawful, false, fraudulent, deceptive or misleading. You may find the laws referenced in this e-mail at www.op.nysed.gov Answered by Seth, Executive Secretary, New York State Dept of Education
Question:Can a provider that was banned from the Medicare network continue treat-ing and referring Medicare beneficia-ries?
Answer:No, once the provider has been terminated from Medicare network they are prohibited to treat or refer Medicare patients until the provider is reinstated with Medicare.
Answered by Olga Khabinskay, COO, WCH Service Bureau, Inc
20 WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com
Q&A
Question:1) If DSM-5 already take affect; 2) If DSM-5 correspond only to ICD-10, mean-ing that if DSM-5 is in affect already – mental health providers should already start using ICD-10?
Answer:DSM-5 already take effect this year, but it has a crosswalk to both ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes, ICD-9 codes from that crosswalk can be used until 10/01/2015 (ICD-10 effective date)
Answered by Slava Kudrov, Account Rep-resentative, WCH Service Bureau, Inc
Question:Thank you for last week’s email on dis-carding records. As a follow up - how long do I have to maintain records for? Your response is appreciated.
Answer:Good question and one I can cheat a little on by copying one of our past newsletters, so thanks for that!
In NY and many other jurisdictions the rule is a record must be maintained the greater of 6 years or until one year after the minor patient reaches the age of 21 years.
TITLE 8. EDUCATION DEPARTMENTCHAPTER I. RULES OF THE BOARD OF RE-
GENTS PART 29. UNPROFESSIONAL CON-DUCT 8 NYCRR § 29.2 (2011)(3) Failing to maintain a record for each patient which accurately reflects the evalu-ation and treatment of the patient. Unless otherwise provided by law, all patient re-cords must be retained for at least six years. Obstetrical records and records of minor patients must be retained for at least six years, and until one year after the minor pa-tient reaches the age of 21 years.
What about HIPAA???Does the HIPAA Privacy Rule require cov-ered entities to keep patients’ medical records for any period of time?No, the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not include medical record retention requirements. Rather, State laws generally govern how long medical records are to be retained. However, the HIPAA Privacy Rule does re-quire that covered entities apply appropri-ate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the privacy of medi-cal records and other protected health in-formation (PHI) for whatever period such information is maintained by a covered en-tity, including through disposal. See 45 CFR 164.530(c).
See - www.hhs.gov If you do not practice in NY and would like us to check your jurisdiction, send Jennifer an email.
And, before you start throwing out records - My advice - if you still have an active patient you have seen in the last 3 years, and records within the 6 year time frame, I recommend you scan and maintain the ENTIRE RECORD. You never know what will be or what claims may potentially be made against you and having the record may be your best defense.
WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com 21
I had a client with a patient with Hepatitis claim and illnesses spreading 20 years and a complaint was made to the Office of Profes-sional Medical Conduct by the family upon the patients demise. Without the records, the client would have been significantly disadvantaged. Since we had the records, we were able to defend proper standard of care and easily walk away unscathed by li-censure.
Also of note and addressed in a prior news-letter - oftentimes in a medical malpractice
action, insurance carriers will require origi-nal records. This issue has not been revisit-ed recently and should be updated with the availability of scanning records. So, there is no clear cut ruling on this, and my answer is its a business decision on when you decide to scan and trash. Also, I would recommend following up with your malpractice carrier to see whether it has additional maintenance suggestions/requirements
Answered by Jennifer Kirschenbaum, Esq
Q&A
22 WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com
HOW WE SPEND OUR SUMMER
WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com 23
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24 WCH Bulletin September 2014 www.wchsb.com