Do EMR records belongs to a clinic or a physician?
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Do EMR records belongs to a clinic or a physician?
I am an office manager of small private medical office with 2 providers who also own that clinic. Can 1 of the providers migrate a data of her patient records without letting the other physician know? Is this legal?
Asked on June 22, 2011 under Malpractice Law, Washington
Answers:
MD, Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Electronic medical records taken by someone who does not have legal custody could be extremely wrong, illegal and possibly violate applicable state HIPAA laws. At the end of the day, it is not a simple answer to determine if the electronic medical records belong to the clinic or an individual physician but generally speaking if the physician is using the data for medical purposes as she is treating the patient then I see no issue. This may be different if she is attempting to use the information to send patients information on the creation of her own practice for example.
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