Guidelines for EMR Compliance
When we use a paperless system for recording medical records, there a few guidelines that must be followed closely for compliance and audit purposes. There will be criminal penalties if anyone is found guilty of misusing or obtaining the medical records with intention of selling it for malicious harm or personal gain. The penalties may include a fine, jail term or even both. Here are a few pointers to keep up with the electronic medical record compliance.
First of all, ensure that all of the computer servers are kept in a secure room, preferably one with a CCTV monitoring. Do keep that room lock at all times, especially when no one is attending to the computer servers.
Then, make sure that the EMRs are equipped with user authorizations or permissions where only authorized users have the permissions to read, write or even to modify the records. Since it is an electronic system, it is a good idea to backup the records, just to be on the safe side. You don’t want to lose all the patients’ records because of a system malfunction.
It is also advisable to have a computer specialist on site as he can lend a helping hand on the spot if there are any enquiries or when met in a difficult situation when handling the system. It is essential to keep the surrounding area of the equipment safe and secure, especially from disasters like floods or a fire.
Do come up disaster plan that is fool proof enough to handle most of the common disasters. Keep a documentation of that plan and make sure that drills are organized frequently to keep everyone up-to-date with the standard operating procedures. And lastly, a log should also be created to leave a trail of any users logging in to see or modify the patients’ EMR.