The biggest headache facing retiring physicians is their legal obligation to maintain and distribute patient charts and medical records. Although retired, most physicians are required to maintain and distribute patient charts for at least seven years, and in the case of pediatricians and physicians who have treated minors, that responsibility may last up to 20 years. Not only do these documents and electronic files need to be securely stored, but a call from a patient, guardian, lawyer or insurance company may require the physician to securely deliver the patient charts to an authorized requestor.
Tom Doyle is the CEO of HarborSafe LLC, which provides high-speed document scanning and long-term physical record storage for retiring healthcare givers in a variety of fields.
“When a doctor retires, the last thing they want to have to deal with are authorized requesters of these records – patients, attorneys, insurance companies – every day for years,” he said. “HarborSafe is a medical records custodian. As a custodian, HarborSafe stores a physician’s patient charts, releases the charts to authorized requestors, and destroys the patient charts in accordance with government regulations. All of this is done in accordance with HIPPA and HITECH requirements.”
“Simply put, HarborSafe takes control of the physician’s patient charts so the physician doesn’t have to,” Doyle continued. “We are providing a service that is not only necessary, but greatly improves the quality of life for our clients”
Whether the client has paper charts, electronic charts, or both, HarborSafe has a solution to meet every physician’s needs.
“We recently received a call from the daughter of a deceased physician,” Doyle said. “When we explained to her our process and how we will alleviate her of this burden, she was so relieved…it is very gratifying to provide a service that is truly a life changer for people."
The custodian services provided by HarborSafe are an extension of the many services provided to the healthcare community by Shoreline Records Management Inc, of which Doyle is CEO. Shoreline was founded on Long Island in 1999 and is a high-volume scanning service bureau. One of Shoreline’s primary service offerings in healthcare is the conversion to paper patient charts to electronic records. Shoreline has securely and accurately converted tens of millions of patient chart documents to an electronic format. Doyle, and his partner, Alan Schatten, saw the custodian business as a natural extension of the best practices and capabilities Shoreline developed while serving the healthcare community for decades.
Shoreline’s services are provided to a wide variety of businesses, not-for-profits, and government agencies. Any organization that requires regular access to documents, any organization that has more than one location, and any organization that has strict record retention requirements can benefit from Shoreline’s services. Not only does Shoreline scan documents, but Shoreline also has a document storage warehouse.
“Whether your best solution is to scan all your documents, to store all your documents or some hybrid solution, Shoreline is here to create the result that is right for our client,” according to Doyle. “Security, compliance and customer service are our most important considerations at Harborsafe and Shoreline. The law requires, and people have the right to expect, that their medical records are treated with the utmost security and in compliance with prevailing rules and regulations. At HarborSafe, we do just that.”
For retiring physicians or the executors of estates of deceased physicians, HarborSafe provides a one-stop solution to insure that physicians meet their legal requirements, while at the same time positioning their patients for the best possible care going forward. All of this is done in a way that provides the greatest gift one can have- peace of mind.
For more information, please visit myharborsafe.com.