Reisz, Canowitz Featured in Behavioral Healthcare Story Titled “Be Wary of Copy-and-Paste EHR Mistakes”

Lisa Pierce Reisz and Robin Canowitz, attorneys in the Vorys Columbus office and members of the health care group, were quoted throughout a Behavioral Healthcare story on using copy and paste functionality to speed up the process of updating notes on patient electronic health records (EHRs).  According to the story, the practice also comes with some potential risks.

The story states:

“However, if providers are not diligent in reviewing the information that often is quickly pasted in, the feature can be a vehicle for introducing errors that could result in fraud charges and possible fines for upcoding, for example. Accidentally paste in the wrong code without looking closely, and false claims could be submitted unintentionally for services that were never provided.

‘It runs the gamut from a simple mistake that could be painful to pay back, to something more systematic, to false claims and even criminal penalties for fraud,’ Reisz says.

Inputting incorrect information from the wrong patient encounter could not only negatively affect future care delivery, but it could also result in dangerous prescription errors.

‘From the outside looking in, there seems to be more risk than benefit,’ says Robin Canowitz, senior attorney at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. She says providers must edit each time they’re updating a patient’s medical record to ensure that the information being recorded is accurate, up to date and aligns with the patient services they’re providing.  

‘You’re trying to ensure your documentation integrity,’ Reisz says. 'There really is no difference in concept from paper records, just more opportunities for mistakes, for those sorts of nuances to be lost, and it really taints the record.'"

To read the entire story, visit the Behavioral Healthcare website.