Are you in a regulated industry? Are there documents (paper or electronic) that you are required to maintain?
If you answered "yes" to either one or both of the previous questions then you need to follow a records retention schedule.
What is a Records Retention Schedule?
It is a fixed period that you or your organization is mandated to follow regarding the maintaining of PAPER RECORDS, MICROFILM RECORDS, and/or ELECTRONIC RECORDS. After the time expires you or your organization can DESTROY BY SHREDDING, DESTROY BY PULVERIZATION, and/or by DELETION.
The schedule is approved (usually by governing entities) to limit the space and resources committed by the individual or organization to store and maintain those records over the lifetime of the entity required to follow a retention schedule. Imagine a medical practice that has been in business for over twenty years. Now imagine that same medical practice that has kept paper records for over twenty years. Yep, that is a lot of paper and space. However, by following a retention schedule that practice will have what it is required to have to meet compliance thus the space and amount of paper is kept to a respectable amount of space.
In the state of Texas:
• Medical Records have a Minimum Retention Period of 7 years past the last date on which service was given or until the patient's 21st birthday, whichever occurs later.
• Dental Records have a Minimum Retention Period of 5 years
• However, Master Patient Index has a PERMANENT retention.
Of course, other rules and regulations apply to unique situations and circumstances. Thus, it is advisable to check with your governing commission, agency, or organization to have the latest information available and to remain in compliance.
Showing posts with label paper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paper. Show all posts
Monday, October 6, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
What We Do: We Help With Your PAPER problems/issues/concerns
It is 2014, where are the flying cars? where are the weekend trips to one of Jupiter's moons? Seriously, where is the automatic vacuum cleaner or the portable handheld communication device? Oh wait a second, we do have those.
Do you know what else we have? We still have PAPER. Weren't we supposed to be doing everything electronically by now?
A harsh reality is that PAPER is here to stay. No matter how much we want to get away from it, paper is has always been here and will always be here. Unfortunately, it is here that most organizations become inundated with so much paper that they feel they cannot get control of the paper records their company has created, no matter what they do.
You know you have to get your paper under control. You know you want to move to a near all paperless operation. You know this. I am not saying anything new. So do we just throw our arms up in the air and say "I surrender"?
Most certainly not!
You cannot surrender. You can never surrender. You have to step up and say enough is enough and wrangle your paper into something manageable and something you can function with.
Sure you can put everything in a shredder and now you have enough confetti for a Super Bowl celebration. Yet, as Murphy's Law dictates "the moment you need something is the exact same moment you dispose of it."
What can you do? First, don't worry. There is a solution. There is help.
Next, It is up to you and your organization to decide that NOW is the time to get a firm grip on your paper issues. You can sit there and think, we can do it later when so and so goes on vacation or we can do it when the slow season comes around. Then when so and so goes on vacation or the slow season starts you realize that you did nothing to prepare to address your paper concerns. In essence, later never comes and the paper problem grows.
There will never be a good time to launch a project.
If not now, when? The cold hard reality is that WHEN is almost always an unanswered question.
If you and your organization are ready to say "damn the torpedoes" and now is the time to get control of your paper records you are going to need a little help. Find someone who knows how to address these unique issues. The sooner you start to addressing these issues, the sooner you can start reclaiming your sanity and office space by eliminating those boxes and boxes of paper.
Rio Records Service, Inc. can help. If you want more information please email admin@rrsonline.us or call us at 956-687-8439
Do you know what else we have? We still have PAPER. Weren't we supposed to be doing everything electronically by now?
A harsh reality is that PAPER is here to stay. No matter how much we want to get away from it, paper is has always been here and will always be here. Unfortunately, it is here that most organizations become inundated with so much paper that they feel they cannot get control of the paper records their company has created, no matter what they do.
You know you have to get your paper under control. You know you want to move to a near all paperless operation. You know this. I am not saying anything new. So do we just throw our arms up in the air and say "I surrender"?
Most certainly not!
You cannot surrender. You can never surrender. You have to step up and say enough is enough and wrangle your paper into something manageable and something you can function with.
Sure you can put everything in a shredder and now you have enough confetti for a Super Bowl celebration. Yet, as Murphy's Law dictates "the moment you need something is the exact same moment you dispose of it."
What can you do? First, don't worry. There is a solution. There is help.
Next, It is up to you and your organization to decide that NOW is the time to get a firm grip on your paper issues. You can sit there and think, we can do it later when so and so goes on vacation or we can do it when the slow season comes around. Then when so and so goes on vacation or the slow season starts you realize that you did nothing to prepare to address your paper concerns. In essence, later never comes and the paper problem grows.
There will never be a good time to launch a project.
If not now, when? The cold hard reality is that WHEN is almost always an unanswered question.
If you and your organization are ready to say "damn the torpedoes" and now is the time to get control of your paper records you are going to need a little help. Find someone who knows how to address these unique issues. The sooner you start to addressing these issues, the sooner you can start reclaiming your sanity and office space by eliminating those boxes and boxes of paper.
Rio Records Service, Inc. can help. If you want more information please email admin@rrsonline.us or call us at 956-687-8439
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