The Horrific Waste & Dangers of Paper Medical Records?

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

Join Our Mailing List

Will that be Paper or Electrons?

[By Staff Reporters]

Paper medical records continue to be a serious waste and posses potential HIPAA violations as paper charts are vulnerable to being lost, stolen, or destroyed.

According to some reports, managing paper charts, from transcriptions to labor needed to pull and re-file charts, costs medical practices $116,375 a year on average.

Taking a Look

The waste & dangers of paper medical records infographic shown below created by IBX Vault takes deep look into the administrative, physical, and technical safeguards required by covered entities and business associates per the HIPAA privacy rule to secure patient data. The visualization also compares the potential security risks of paper medical records vs. EMRs stating that only 7 out of 479 breaches were related to EMRs.

[See also: The High Cost of HIPAA Violations Infographic]

Privacy and Treatments

While it is important to note that the adoption of EMRs present some security risks of its own as many critics have cited potential privacy concerns that may lead to expensive medical treatments.

Assessment

Additionally, it is imperative to note the tremendous financial harm that implementing an EMR does to a hospital’s bottom-line.

Conclusion

Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:

Product Details

Filed under: Information Technology | Tagged: , , , | 5 Comments »