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Tip: Use a committee to determine whether to accept patients' amendment request

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, September 13, 2002

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Accepting patients' requests for record amendments, determining whether to make the amendments, and responding to patients within 60 days is too much responsibility to place on one person.

You can get a 30-day extension, if you can justify it, but one person still shouldn't handle the whole process alone, says Harry Rhodes, MBA, RHIA, director of health information management (HIM) products and services at the American Health Information Management Association, in Chicago.

"Use a committee to review amendment policies and the medical entry that you are considering and make a decision on whether it's in the best interest of the facility and the patient to make the change," says Rhodes. It will take the burden off the clinician who treated the patient and help your facility make consistent decisions based on thorough, well-rounded thinking.

The committee should include the privacy official, as well as at least one representative from the following:

• HIM staff
• Legal counsel
• Medical staff (from the same department as the treating physician, but not the treating physician)
• Risk management staff

The committee should consider each request and compare reasons for accepting a request with reasons for denying it.

Editor's note: Adapted from the September 2002 issue of Briefings on HIPAA.

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