With the advent of electronic health records, office-based practitioners must also fight complacency with system-generated reminders for regular patient testing.

Notwithstanding the usual suspects that hinder electronic medical record implementation — initial costs, interoperability problems, training burdens, and altered physician-patient dynamics — there’s also the risk of a pure system malfunction. In a malpractice suit after an admitted malfunction, a physician’s actions will still be scrutinized.

The increasing use of electronic health records (EHR) has resulted in an increased ability to electronically track activities that occur within a specific medical record. This is accomplished by review of the metadata, audit trails, or audit logs. 

So far this year, business associate breaches account for roughly 12 percent of the total breaches reported to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), or 27 of the 233 reported breaches as of September 19. What does this mean to a covered entity? It means that it’s not enough to require a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA). Vendors should be diligently vetted.

Don’t let something as simple as the copy and paste function in your EMR damage your medical practice or hospital.