For every company dealing with record-keeping, one of the paramount objectives should be to protect the data from any mismanagement and thefts of any kind. While it is applicable to all the firms involved in such management of medical records, it is particularly the case for the medical industry to take the appropriate care in maintaining a safe repository of their patient health records. There are several laws and regulations that make it necessary to shred or destroy the records after regular intervals and protect the data from crucial risks.
Storage of the Medical Records:
The limit for the storage of the medical data varies from province to province and in most areas, doctors are required to maintain the data for patients for up to 10 years. The main reason behind the storage of the patient data is to make sure that appropriate records are maintained in order to be prepared for litigations and legal difficulties. The records can serve as evidence regarding a particular doctor’s communication with the patient.
The medical records are also important given that they contain highly useful information regarding a person’s health. In case of an emergency, the health record can serve to aid the medical staff to understand the previous treatments undertaken by the patient. This can be helpful to the patients for getting the right treatment at the right time. Therefore, the maintenance of the health records are extremely important and these are to be stored in a secure environment to make sure that these can be only accessed by the medical staff that is directly involved in the treatment procedure.
The method of storing records plays a huge role in the management of health records. There are certain medical record management systems that do not provide a safe and secure environment for the storing of the records. The credibility of the electronic health records is also questioned sometimes, given the vast number of people who have access to the medical records during this time. Anyone working in a medical centre would be able to access the medical health records of any patient at any time.
Prevention of Misuse of Information:
Health records are extremely prone to misuse. Given that staff members, other than doctors and nurses are able to go through the data of any patient and probably use that data for their personal gain makes it important to have special arrangements to ensure that the procedure of accessing the medical records is secure and hassle-free at the same time. For ensuring the best method for record keeping, record management firms make it a priority to make sure that identity thefts do not occur.
The theft of medical records can lead to thefts relating to one’s identity, given that crucial information is shared on the health records. These records can then be sold illegally for thousands of dollars, resulting in harmful consequences in the process. The information can be stolen and utilized for fraudulent activities such as financial fraud, medical fraud, frauds related to insurance as well as a series of other serious crimes. These crimes can lead to harmful consequences, without you being aware of it while it occurs.
Apart from the risk of being targeted for fraudulent activities, the sensitive information provided in the medical records might also be used for blackmailing a patient and pocketing money from them. Information regarding analysis for HIV and AIDs could be used to blackmail the patients into paying a certain amount of money to protect their diagnosis report and personal information.
The record management firms specialize in providing adequate security for the records and they also make it easy for doctors to access the records as and when needed. Apart from this, there are proper protocols followed for the destruction of the records once the time limit for the records is over. This is crucial and allows for proper management of the records. The destruction must be done in a manner that is safe and leaves no scope for the reconstruction of the information. A records management firm, being experienced, would be able to follow the correct protocols, making the process of record management much easier.
