Capstone Projects

Record of Destruction at LTC Facility

Program: Health Information Management Technology Bachelor's
Host Company: Kenosha Brookside Care Center
Location: Kenosha, Wisconsin (onsite)
Student: Kelsey Cowie

I was assigned the task of putting together the certificate of destruction for previously destroyed records. The destruction of record is essential for stringent privacy safeguards as holding onto individual’s personal health record(s) puts the organization and induvial at risk. Retention policies are essential to ensure safety, security, and accuracy of resident’s identifiable data as well as personal health information. Also, because Brookside Care Center is a hybrid facility each resident can have multiple paper records. The storage of these paper records takes up a lot of space as documents of patients must be retained for ten years after they have left the facility. However, the admission and discharge registers are kept permanently. Therefore, it is pertinent that the HIM manager stay up to date with retention policies, and procedures. Another major task I had at Brookside Care Center apart from the destruction of record project was assisting the unit secretaries with filing. In a hybrid environment filing is crucial to ensure patient safety and the integrity of the medical records.