Wiki Patient Register

[hortonjb]

Does anyone know if there is a law or standard pertaining to keeping an on-going patient register book, separate from the EHR and Master Resident Patient index card? I work in a long-term care facility and they have this book that they write every patients name, id#, and disposition in. I feel that this is redundant to the other 2 permanent records that we keep. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[thomas7331]

The laws governing patient information in the healthcare setting primarily regulate privacy (i.e. how and with whom the information is shared) and security (i.e. ensuring that the information is protected with appropriate safeguards). As long as this information is not inappropriately shared and is appropriately protected from unauthorized access, I would think is unlikely to violate any major laws, though it's possible your state or locality may have laws that have additional restrictions. Redundancy may be a poor business practice but that in itself is not usually against the law. Why not discuss it with your management? If it truly serves no purpose, eliminating an unnecessary task would be to everyone's benefit.