Although malpractice and negligence are common in a private practice, there are certain measures you can take to prevent them from occurring in your business. Nitin Chhoda discusses several options and how they protect your physical therapy practice.
There has been a lot of discussion and concern over the implementation of electronic medical records in a physical therapy management system with regard to the safety of patient information so as to avoid malpractice and negligence.
Even though we are getting used to using credit cards online and often we transmit very private information through email, when it comes to transmitting a patient’s private information electronically, things still feel a bit more precarious.
But the truth is that there are many ways that you can protect your practice from malpractice and negligence, and your patients from unintentional and potentially damaging information leaks.
Online Information Protection
Now more than ever, protection of online information is a huge priority for all kinds of businesses. As a result, there is a huge market of software developers dedicated to creating security solutions for all kinds of software systems.
That includes EMRs and other medical software. Today, you can purchase an EMR solution that protects the information of patients with the top levels of security.
The important thing will be to make sure you get a high quality EMR and that you transfer your medical records in a secure way, preventing you from possible malpractice and negligence.
Negligence is Negligence
The legal definition of negligence sounds more complicated than it needs to. Broken down to simpler terms, a practice can be accused of negligence if they made a mistake, knowingly or unknowingly, and patient information was compromised as a result.
So how can you avoid negligence with committing malpractice? On the one hand, there may be some unavoidable mistakes that have to be accepted as the fault of the practice. On the other hand, there are some fairly clear lines in the sand when it comes to not protecting your patient files from exposure.
Malpractice or negligence concern, there are very specific rules today about how EMRs can be designed, maintained, and operated so that they will protect patient data.
How to Avoid Malpractice and Negligence?
The first way to avoid malpractice and negligence is to ensure that you purchase a high quality EMR that has security built in that stands up to legal standards.
The next important thing to remember is that incorrect medical records of any kind can have disastrous consequences. Malpractice and negligence is an example.
Whether your records are on paper or in the computer, if a note about patient allergies is not included or highlighted in some way, that patient is at risk of being treated incorrectly.
The potential for an allergic reaction to medication is high and the outcome can be severe. This may lead to malpractice.
Transitioning your records from paper to electronic files is going to be very important, and ensuring that no mistakes are made and nothing important is overlooked is a very big job.
But the cost of overlooking details in a paper medical records are much higher than the cost of taking the time to transition the files completely and correctly.
Stay Vigilant
The best anyone can do is to stay away of the risks of malpractice and negligence and to avoid rushing through the process of adopting an EMR. When you know the risks, you know what to do to avoid making mistakes.
