Running Head: HIM m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m
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1-2 Journal: eDiscovery and Business Record Rules
HIM 422
SNHU
HIM m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m
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• A Health Information Management (HIM) professional must be fluent in processes
relating to subpoenas, discovery, depositions and eDiscovery. These processes are of high
relevance in the context of litigation. Szalados has argued that lawsuits in the medical
landscape can be unnerving for professionals that function in the healthcare domain (Szalados,
2021). A considerable degree of demand may be placed on an HIM professional in legal
processes, specifically when it comes to the use of health information in any lawsuit. Thus, it
becomes a necessity for these professionals to have a clear understanding of what is expected
of them and how they can exercise their roles and responsibilities in the legal context.
Russa has argued that the possibility of litigation is high in the healthcare context (La
Russa et al., 2021). Thus, HIM professionals must have proper comprehension relating to
these aspects since they have the ownership of their legality. The understanding of these
important processes can aid HIM professionals in effectively and responsibly releasing the
relevant protected health information of patients within healthcare facilities (Bowman, 2013).
By having comprehensive insight into the processes, HIM professionals will be able to act as
the ultimate ‘custodian of health records’, and they may be called for testifying purposes
relating to the admissibility of the health records. Only if an HIM professional has proper
insight into the diverse processes will he or she be able to verify the timeliness and the
adoption of normal business practices while developing and maintaining the health records. It
can help to adopt effective strategies to approach healthcare-related litigations (Machado et
al., 2021).
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• In order to successfully respond to cases relating to negligence, malpractice, corporate
negligence, or breach of confidentiality, it is imperative to identify the changes that might
have taken place in each of the processes. As per the business record rule, there is scope to
HIM m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m
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admit records as a piece of evidence as long as there exists a proper foundation that shows
that the document is reliable. It is necessary for healthcare organizations to ascertain how
their information systems can provide for the preservation of details and information that may
be relevant in the litigation process. The policies, protocols, and practices that exist in place
must aid the staff in understanding how they can help in maintaining the records so that they
will be able to meet necessary federal as well as state legal requirements (Bowman, 2013).
The key steps that entities need to take into consideration in order to make sure that litigation
is successful include recognizing which specific department would be responsible for handling
the request and representing the organization in the court of law. Similarly, another key step
that must be taken involves the proper establishment of policies and protocols which can
assist in determining which specific record would be disclosed and preserved during the
litigation process. Additionally, it is necessary to ensure that the staff members possess a
substantial level of knowledge and understanding relating to the policies and practices that
have been introduced in the organizational context prior to the submission of the key
documents as pieces of evidence in the court of law.
HIM m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m
m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m 4
References
Bowman, S. (2013). Impact of electronic health record systems on information integrity:
quality and safety implications. Perspectives in health information management, 10(Fall).
La Russa, R., Viola, R. V., D’Errico, S., Aromatario, M., Maiese, A., Anibaldi, P., ... &
Fineschi, V. (2021). Analysis of inadequacies in hospital care through medical liability
litigation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7),
3425.
Machado, F. L. D. S., dos Santos, D. M. D. S. S., & Lopes, L. C. (2021). Strategies to
Approach Medicines Litigation: An Action Research Study in Brazil. Frontiers in
pharmacology, 12, 418.
Szalados, J. E. (2021). The Timeline of a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit. In The Medical-Legal
Aspects of Acute Care Medicine (pp. 117-135). Springer, Cham.
