ARTICLE
By Mark R Bronson, DC, FACO Among the most challenging tasks of our workday as chiropractors is record keeping. Every service associated with a patient visit, and every communication with or about a patient, generally necessitates a note in the patient’s record. Chiropractors create and maintain records for multiple reasons: Our need to preserve data which we couldn’t otherwise remember; our duty to share meaningful information with other providers on behalf of our patients, and our desire to get paid for our services, and for our own protection. We must include certain key components in our patient records, store them securely and accessibly, and submit a copy of those records upon proper request by our patients, legal representatives, payors, or the Board. For these reasons, the Board has revisited administrative rules pertaining to patient records and documentation. We openly solicited public input and held a Stakeholder Meeting in July to discuss possible rule changes. We discussed, in particular, the required contents of a patient record, the process for requesting a patient record, the allowable fee structure for providing copies of records, and who is ultimately responsible for storing and maintaining patient records. The meeting was productive and resulted in a rule draft which will be on the agenda for the February 2020 Board meeting. Meanwhile, we are always interested in comments and opinions from the profession so don’t hesitate to reach out to us with your concerns. —————————— Source: http://www.tbce.state.tx.us/NewsLetter/2019/NLNovember2019.pdf