1 Running Head: Research Paper Final Draft 6 Research Paper Final Draft Research Paper Final Draft Himaswetha Polavarapu Dr.Mary Cecil University Of The Cumberlands Information Governance 12/01/2019 ABSTRACT One of major issues in todays hospitals is period for which medical records are to be retained. Therefore health information managements professionals have traditionally performed record retention and also the destruction functions using media, including the paper, images, the optical disk, microfilm, the DVD, and also CD-ROM. Health information managements departments therefore has to maintain specific program in order to retain and also destruct records. The main purpose of this paper to investigate and maintain the retention and also destruction process of the medical records in hospitals and codifying appropriate guidelines. The research is conducted as cross-sectional descriptive study in hospitals in India. Data was collected using the Check List. Viewpoints to be obtained using Delphi technique. Data entry and also the statistical analysis are performed using the SPSS. INTRODUCTION Due to many practices and services offered to people in healthcare that cater to the basic needs of an individual, the company undergoes a series of changes in record overtime which are retained safely to avoid them landing into unauthorized hands because some documents may be carrying sensitive information about individuals. Record retention involves storing records that are not in use anymore for example marriage certificates. Because of this need, different companies have developed an online policy of record detention that will determine how long should these records be retained and provide a disposal guideline. In my research, I will analyze online policies developed by the Healthcare industry on the management of their record retention. BACKGROUND Record retention is a very important step initiated in healthcare to ensure there is continuity of care for a patient. Professionals traditionally have been maintaining records through different means like using media as well as paper from which it can be retrieved when the owner visits the healthcare unit again thus can be used for time reference. The management has established an online policy through an appropriate retention schedule which will ensure there is minimal or no legal discovery of the records detained, this approach has worked positively in many organizations including the healthcare sector. Advancement to an online system of record retention through technology has improved the management of this process where data can be retrieved from the system for a specific person very fast and securely according to (Kruse.et.al.2015). LITERATURE REVIEW Retention Policies In the healthcare system, management of records involves some basic steps from creation to utilization to maintenance then finally to retention. The following guidelines are responsible for the development, managem ...

1. 1
Running Head: Research Paper Final Draft
6
Research Paper Final Draft
Research Paper Final Draft
Himaswetha Polavarapu
Dr.Mary Cecil
University Of The Cumberlands
Information Governance
12/01/2019
ABSTRACT
One of major issues in todays hospitals is period for which
medical records are to be retained. Therefore health information
managements professionals have traditionally performed record
retention and also the destruction functions using media,
including the paper, images, the optical disk, microfilm, the
DVD, and also CD-ROM. Health information managements
departments therefore has to maintain specific program in order
to retain and also destruct records. The main purpose of this
paper to investigate and maintain the retention and also

2. destruction process of the medical records in hospitals and
codifying appropriate guidelines. The research is conducted as
cross-sectional descriptive study in hospitals in India. Data was
collected using the Check List. Viewpoints to be obtained using
Delphi technique. Data entry and also the statistical analysis are
performed using the SPSS.
INTRODUCTION
Due to many practices and services offered to people in
healthcare that cater to the basic needs of an individual, the
company undergoes a series of changes in record overtime
which are retained safely to avoid them landing into
unauthorized hands because some documents may be carrying
sensitive information about individuals. Record retention
involves storing records that are not in use anymore for example
marriage certificates. Because of this need, different companies
have developed an online policy of record detention that will
determine how long should these records be retained and
provide a disposal guideline. In my research, I will analyze
online policies developed by the Healthcare industry on the
management of their record retention.
BACKGROUND
Record retention is a very important step initiated in healthcare
to ensure there is continuity of care for a patient. Professionals
traditionally have been maintaining records through different
means like using media as well as paper from which it can be
retrieved when the owner visits the healthcare unit again thus
can be used for time reference. The management has established
an online policy through an appropriate retention schedule
which will ensure there is minimal or no legal discovery of the
records detained, this approach has worked positively in many
organizations including the healthcare sector. Advancement to
an online system of record retention through technology has
improved the management of this process where data can be

3. retrieved from the system for a specific person very fast and
securely according to (Kruse.et.al.2015).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Retention Policies
In the healthcare system, management of records involves some
basic steps from creation to utilization to maintenance then
finally to retention. The following guidelines are responsible
for the development, management, and implementation of a
record retention program;
· Records need to be kept as per the initial agreement like which
document to be retrained and for how long it will take under
retention. This helps the management to monitor and understand
the nature of documents under retention and can easily be
retrieved according to how they were saved on a program
according to (Ryan, Edney & Maher 2017).
· Clarity of the policy to show the types of records detained for
example for X-ray records of people need to be retained in a
different folder from the one that entails birth certificates of
people so that the retrieval process can be easy whenever a
customer comes back.
· Within the policy as well, there is a retention period for every
document as this will enable easy determination of documents
ready to be discarded after their detection period is over
according to (Wolff.et.al.2016).
· Through the management of retained records in healthcare, we
have procedures that except specific documents from the
program like it copies files to a specific directory on LAN that
stores ‘important files’ on the health records of clients who visit
the healthcare.
After analyzing the procedures to put in place when deducing
the best online policy for record retention in the healthcare
system, health care entities also need to align their record
retention with those a federal and state-specific record retention
requirements which will enable them to manage their records
well and ensure their total security especially when they are
keeping the records for national security groups. With all these,

4. in place, the healthcare industry will have an easy way to
manage and control their record retention and have a clear way
to protect their health records according to (Redelmeier &
Kraus 2018).
As an patient-centered decision in the support systems that are
being to be implemented, that is very important in order to
ensure validity of generated output. Misclassification of the
errors that can be very dangerous in the domain. Therefore the
Patient systems, which needs to be embedded in the mobile
devices, that needs to be evaluated and also be approved by the
medical experts. Therefore the data transmitted from various
different sources that can be potentially leveraged by various
providers to improve the patient and also for population health
for outcomes. However, the accurate measures are still to be
needed to assess improve the performance of the systems. In
addition, to these metrics that needs account for the biases that
are present in the patient-generated data. Prior research
indicated PHR systems that are mostly used by various patients
who are therefore typically more sick. Therefore, findings and
also the models generated from the analyzing data might not be
very generalizable to very other patient in the populations.
The record’s lifecycle commences when information is created
and ends with the destruction of the data. The objective for
healthcare institutions is to manage each step in the lifecycle of
the records as a way to ensure their availability. Information
creation is easy to do and many organizations are satisfied when
utilizing or creating information.
The problems occur as they try to retain or maintain this data.
Issues that come up include lack of file spacing and can be
labor intensive, especially when it comes to the retrieval of the
records. A countermeasure is a record retention schedule where
maintenance can be conducted by storing the records in another
location and scanning to provide softcopies. Even as new media
and technologies are implemented and developed, many
institutions lack the capability to scan previous records in order
to free up storage spaces. Consequently, health information is

5. stored in multiple locations and storage media, creating the
need for clear definitions of record retention plans.
Research Question
How has the healthcare industry like other industries develop an
online policy system that manages record retention?
Research Methods
In order to satisfy the objectives of the dissertation, a
qualitative research was held. The main characteristic of
qualitative research is that it is mostly appropriate for small
samples, while its outcomes are not measurable and
quantifiable (see table 3.1). Its basic advantage, which also
constitutes its basic difference with quantitative research, is
that it offers a complete description and analysis of a
research subject, without limiting the scope of the research
and the nature of participant’s responses (Collis & Hussey,
2003).
However, the effectiveness of qualitative research is heavily
based on the skills and abilities of researchers, while the
outcomes may not be perceived as reliable, because they mostly
come from researcher’s personal judgments and interpretations.
Because it is more appropriate for small samples, it is also
risky for the results of qualitative research to be perceived as
reflecting the opinions of a wider population (Bell, 2005).
Qualitative and Quantitative Research
This aim is complete, detailed description inorder to classify the
features and also count them inorder to construct the statistical
models to make an attempt inorder to explain the observed and
also in the phases of the research projects inorder to recommend
the phases of the research projects. The research design also
emerges as per the folds and also on various aspects that are to
be carefully designed before the data is to be collected by using
the data gathering instrument. Therefore the questionnaires are
used to collect the qualitative data and the SPSS packages are
used in validation studies.The data is collected in form of
statistics and the subjective individual interpretation of the
events and the participant observation,in-depth analysis

6. measurement & analysis of target concepts, e.g., uses surveys,
questionnaires etc.
Data Collection Plan
Health care involves a diverse set of public and private data
collection systems, including health surveys, administrative
enrolment, health records and billing records, used by various
entities including government entities, hospitals, clinics and
community health centers, physicians, and health plans.
Healthcare professionals collect various types of data during
ongoing patient care but also for research. Data collection
requires a consent from the patient, and research studies require
an individual consent. Some basic types of data are Electronic
health records which are generally not available for outside
researchers, administrative data, claims data, patient, disease
registries, Health surveys, clinical trials data. Clinical trials are
registered to databases to collect information about new
research studies. Qualitative Data Collection collects a piece of
detailed information about a product or an issue
The paper questionnaires are frequently used for qualitative
data collection from the participants. The questionnaire consists
of short text questions, which are often open-ended. The motive
of these questions is to collect as much detailed information as
possible in respondents own words
focused group discussion, researchers get to know how a
particular group of participants perceives the topic. Researchers
analyze what participants think of an issue, the range of
opinions expressed, and ideas discussed
There are mainly three different types of research interviews
structured, semi-structured and unstructured. The Structured
interviews are, the essentially, verbally administered ones with
collecting the questionnaires, in which list of the predetermined
questions are generally asked, with little or mostly with no
variation and with also no scope for the follow-up questions in
regards to the responses that warrants the further elaboration.
Therefore they are to be relatively quick and also very easy to
administer particular use of the clarification of the certain

7. questions that are generally required if there are to be likely
literacy or various numeracy problems with respondents.
Here in Healthcare type setting Semi structured Interviews are
carried out. Semi-structured interviews consist of several key
questions that help to define the areas to be explored, but also
allows the interviewer or interviewee to diverge in order to
pursue an idea or response in more detail. This interview format
is used most frequently in healthcare, as it provides participants
with some guidance on what to talk about, which many find
helpful. The flexibility of this approach, particularly compared
to structured interviews, also allows for the discovery or
elaboration of information that is important to participants but
may not have previously been thought of as pertinent by the
research team.
Results
The agency must have policies in place regarding the retention
and destruction of medical records. For advice on record
destruction, agencies are to contact agency legal counsel, or in
the case of public entities. Family planning clinics must retain
all records, documents and correspondence relative to medical
services for a period determined by agency legal counsel.
Records may be stored in inactive or closed files per agency
policies. Records of minors shall be retained for a period past
majority determined by agency legal counsel. Records of clients
receiving contraceptive devices shall be kept indefinitely.
Discussion
Monitoring of client medical records must be periodically
performed. (Refer also to Section 10.4, Quality Assurance, on
quality monitoring of medical records).Concurrent medical
record monitoring should be performed after each clinic session
by consistently assigned staff. There should be a system in
place to identify medical record deficits and to resolve
identified problems.Periodic medical record audits must be
conducted. Audits should randomly sample records of new
patients, continuing patients, teens or method specific users for
compliance to medical practice and documentation standards

8. Conclusion
A poorly developed the mismanaged documentation retention
policy which lead to the spoliation or the obstruction of the
justice under the both of the federal law and also the state law.
Therefore, the healthcare providers, the healthcare facilities,
also entities in healthcare industry that is must not only the
adopt, but also strictly to follow the sound documentation
retention and also the destruction policies. Therefore the
Federal and also state laws that is therefore complement on the
one another in the state laws to be dictated when in for the long
medical records be kept and in the federal law that prevents
them in being disclosed. In therefore all of the, federal and also
the state rules, will be including in the rules of the evidence, in
the healthcare law and also the HIPAA that provide a
comprehensive network of the rules that in the protect sensitive
of healthcare in information of the patients and also the
consumers.
References
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