Medical Records Management is indeed a tedious but the most important task for the Physicians and Medical Practice, which makes them liable to higher risk, penalties and legal issue if mishandled and missed to follow the Protected Health Information (PHI) compliance measures. While the U.S. federal government mandates the Patient Medical Records to be retained and maintained for around 7-10 years, the policies of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) sets forth varied rules and protocols to be followed on the usage, storage, data transmitting or sharing or even destroying post the said maintenance period.
Knowing the HIPAA Compliance Policy clauses is essential for every member associated with Medical Practice irrespective of if they are directly related to handling PHI or not. HIPAA mandates that the entire workforce abide by their compliance policies to ensure the Patient health information is protected at all levels. Therefore managing Medical Records requires high level of confidentiality, listed below are few guidelines to be followed:
- Establish a safe and secure storage platform for your paper as well as electronic claims. With restriction to access level based on authorized and unauthorized personal.
- Ensure all your staff are trained and informed on HIPAA Policy to abide by when handling PHI
- Ensure all paper files are protected with utmost care to protect from physical damage like wear and tear, getting wet, lost and missed.
- Electronic version of the medical records needs to be protected from corruption, threats and risk of losing them.
Therefore, it is oblivious that Medical Records Management requires a professional approach to ensure confidentiality and integrity as discussed above. Having a dedicated team will ensure the medical records management current and up to date at any situation and helps the practice and physician to recover reports as and when required. Read below to know the benefits of Outsourcing Medical Records Management:
- Medical Records management support with the help of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Electronic Health Records (EHR)
- Outsourcing Medical Records management provides access to electronic Health Records
- Access to Patient Report as and when required to decide next step of treatment
- Appointment and Procedure Schedule with reminders
- Reduce Claim denials due to improper patient history or lack of related records
- Check Patient Eligibility and coverage benefits
- Increased Productivity and Claim first pass rate
- Payment Tracking and real time claim rejection reports
Outsourcing is comparatively beneficial as most of the outsourcing companies provide Medical Records management services via electronic version like EMR or EHR which benefits hugely for physician or practice in various ways like increased reimbursement and reduced denials
About MGSI
MGSI is over 25 years old National Medical Billing Company serving hundreds of providers ranging from Solo and Group Practices, Medical Centers, and specialty based Medical Centers. MGSI is a national reseller of Kareo and Harris CareTracker EMR solutions, and also have expertise to handle any platform and provide Medical Records management and end to end Medical billing services. To know more about MGSI and our services call 877-896-6474 or log on to MGSI – Electronic Health Records (EHR) Specialists in Florida (mgsionline.com)