Finally, a new area of concern that has emerged is failure to follow up on a recommendation once it has been made. An ideal situation would be for the EHR or physician office to send a follow-up reminder if an important test is not done. This reminder to the patient should be recorded as well as whether the patient went through with the recommendation and steps the health care provider took to encourage compliance.
This overview does not represent an exhaustive list of EHR issues but rather highlights some common issues along with steps that can be taken to minimize errors, with a goal of increasing overall safety for the patient and decreasing liability for the health care provider.
Mr. Marcoz is a health care attorney in Wilmington, Del., who is shareholder at Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin in the Health Care Liability Practice Group. His areas of practice include medical malpractice and dental insurance defense. Dr. Skolnik is associate director of the family medicine residency program at Abington (Pa.) Memorial Hospital and professor of family and community medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia. He is also editor-in-chief of Redi-Reference Inc., a software company that creates mobile apps.
