What should be considered when deciding whether or not to use the copy and paste functionality in an EHR?
Published May 7, 2018 But is it? According to experts, not always. “Why is copy and paste a bad idea? If there are no best practices, policies, and procedures in place, when physicians are in a hurry, they could copy the wrong information, or they could copy only part of the information,” says Diana Warner, MS, director of Informatics, Information Governance & Standards at the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Overuse or incorrect
use of the copy and paste feature in EHRs can be dangerous and can have legal ramifications, including insurance fraud or loss of money from billing errors due to convoluted information for coding, Warner says. Also called “cloning” and “carrying forward,” the copy and paste feature has benefits—including saving time during vital documentation, which is especially useful with the heightened importance of the EHR Incentive Program (also known as “Meaningful Use”)—but the risks
can be high. In “Appropriate Use of the Copy and Paste Functionality in Electronic Records,” AHIMA notes that using copy and paste incorrectly can result in “redundant, erroneous, and/or incomprehensible health record documentation.” For example, if a patient has a family history of breast cancer but no diagnosis of the disease and a practitioner accidentally copies only “breast cancer,” leaving off “family history of,” the patient’s medical history would then be inaccurate, Warner says. And the practice is more common than one might think. An August 2017 study in JAMA® found that, of 23,630 notes written by 460 clinicians, more than 80% of text was copied or imported from a previous document. Only 18% of text was manually entered. With so many practitioners using the copy and paste feature, more awareness about potential issues, as well as collaborative solutions from all involved, is needed, Warner says. Several questions should be asked when developing
policies and procedures: In addition, the ECRI Institute held a workshop in 2016 that identified 4 safe practice recommendations for using
copy/paste features: Not all information needs to be copied from previous notes and other documents, and knowing what to edit can help prevent “note bloat,” when documents such as progress reports become
overwhelming from copying too much content, Warner says. Practitioners should retain key patient history as well as updated notes so patients receive the most accurate care. In essence, practitioners should be storytellers. “What is the patient story for that day or that visit?” Warner says. “Sometimes it gets lost. And that’s what makes documenting difficult.” (15 points)1.What should be considered when deciding whether or not to use the copy and paste functionality? Get answer to your question and much more Get answer to your question and much more Application Exercises (10 points)Instructions:Answer the following questions.Identify the accrediting or certifying body that address each of the following types of healthcaresettings (an internet search can be utilized for assistance). Get answer to your question and much more Get answer to your question and much more Ambulatory care or physicianoffice settings Get answer to your question and much more Ambulatory surgery facilities Get answer to your question and much more Long-term care facilities Get answer to your question and much more Behavioral healthcare facilities Get answer to your question and much more Obstetric or gynecologic care Get answer to your question and much more settingsRehabilitation servicesorganizations Get answer to your question and much more
2.Identify the type of consent, authorization, or acknowledgement based upon thedescription provided:(10 Points) Get answer to your question and much more What should be considered when deciding whether or not to use the copy and paste functionality quizlet?Users of the copy/paste functionality should weigh the efficiency and time savings benefits it provides against the potential for creating inaccurate, fraudulent, or unwieldy documentation.
Why should you not copy and paste in EHR?Overuse or incorrect use of the copy and paste feature in EHRs can be dangerous and can have legal ramifications, including insurance fraud or loss of money from billing errors due to convoluted information for coding, Warner says.
What is the potential impact of the copy paste functionality on the integrity of the data and information contained in an EHR?Using the copy functionality in an EHR system poses risk to documentation integrity, including: Inaccurate or outdated information that may adversely impact patient care. Inability to identify authors or what they thought. Inability to identify when the documentation was created.
What risks are there in copying and pasting?“Copying and pasting lots of information runs the risk of upcoding, and also the risk of creating a medical record that is so loaded with text and repeated information that it is almost impossible to tell what happened and when.
|