Posts Tagged HIPAA Covered Entities must retain billing records for how long?

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Managed IT Services, HIPAA/HITECH Compliance and Changing IT Providers: Ed Garay from Lutrum Answers Your IT Questions.

Mary Pat: Where does the name of your company, Lutrum, come from?

Ed Garay: When I was developing a name for this company, I didn’t want to be like every other healthcare IT services company with health, md, medical, etc. as part of their name.  I wanted it to represent something deeper about what we do and who we are as an IT organization.  Although we are IT specialists, I realized that one of the things that I am always working with my team on is to listen and understand our client’s needs.  Which lead me to creating the name, Lutrum.  Lutrum is a slight variant of the Latin word Lutra.  Lutra means otter in English.  And the otter symbolizes empathy.

Mary Pat: What led up to you starting your own business?

Ed Garay: In late 2000, I worked as an IT Director for an organization that continued to downsize.  I came to a career crossroad.  With starting to support under 100 systems, and the network running in tip-top shape, there was really no need for me to be there full-time in the long run.  So, do I look for another job that can’t possibly be as fulfilling as where I was, or do I take a leap of faith and start up my own business and share my knowledge with the masses?  Through the feedback of mentors and other resources that knew me personally and professionally, I was highly motivated to take the leap of faith and have never looked back.  My business career has evolved over the years and has naturally lead me to Lutrum.

Mary Pat: What are Managed IT Services?

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Posted in: Compliance, Electronic Medical Records, General

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Record Retention Simplified – The Ultimate Guideline

Record retention can be a significant problem for healthcare groups. Different federal and state regulations require different retention schedules for medical records and other medical-service related documents. Many managers and physicians are confused on how long they should maintain records and how best to store all this paper. Here’s an updated record retention schedule that is in sync with medical malpractice insurers (check with your malpractice carrier) and accounting firms.

There are all kinds of numbers floating around for retaining records, but unless you are focusing ONLY on record retention, you”d have to be very organized to separate what can be shredded in 1 year, 3 years, 6 years, 7 years, etc. I prefer to categorize everything into three basic categories: Save it Forever, Save it for 7 years, and Save it according to state requirements. Here is (almost) everything broken into my three categories.

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Posted in: Compliance, Day-to-Day Operations, Innovation

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