EMR Software and Data Control

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When the United States Congress passed the HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) legislation in 1996, the intent was admirable: to protect the rights of patients in controlling the information contained in their medical records, and to hold doctors accountable for failing to protect that information. The “Portability” part of the act is less news-friendly, but just as important: Congress fully intended to herd American doctors and patients toward the implementation of electronic medical records (EMR).
EMR software solves a host of problems in efficiency and accuracy, but one often-overlooked benefit is data control. Practices and hospitals with effective, internal EMR software are much less likely to outsource crucial components of their daily operations—which means their data is handled by their own employees, rather than someone they neither know nor trust.
Consider a 2003 incident from a California hospital. A necessary medical practice (transcription) was outsourced to a company, which then outsourced to a smaller company, which had its own network of independent contractors. At the end of the chain was a citizen of Pakistan, working outside US borders, completely outside the jurisdiction of US medical practice laws. The short story is this: when the contractor felt her employer had shorted her pay, she bypassed him (and the company that had employed him) and contacted the hospital directly, threatening to release thousands of private patient records on the internet if something wasn’t done.
An extreme example, of course—but a possibility that remains in play for every piece of data that leaves the control of a doctor’s practice. The lesson, simple but obvious, is that physicians, practices, and hospitals that maintain a tight fist on their medical records are much less likely to lose control of those records, exposing themselves to angry patients and potential lawsuits.
The easiest way to maintain that control is through custom-built EMR software from a HIPAA-compliant provider.

About the Author

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. Learn more by visiting http://www.foxmeadows.com.

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