Several terms are used interchangeably to describe a patient’s medical chart, including medical record, health record, and patient chart. All refer to a private medical record that contains systematic documentation of an individual patient’s important clinical data and medical history over time. Accurate, complete medical charts enable healthcare providers to make informed and appropriate decisions about optimal patient care. Show
A patient’s medical chart may contain different note types, documenting office or telemedicine visits (encounters) and patient calls, such as:
Depending on the type of ambulatory practice– whether a solo practitioner or a member of a medical group that includes multiple practices—a patient’s chart may contain notes from one provider or from multiple providers who have seen the patient. On this page, we’ll discuss the different information and clinical data that may appear in patients’ medical charts. What kind of information comprises a medical chart?Medical charts contain documentation regarding a patient’s active and past medical history, including immunizations, medical conditions, acute and chronic diseases, testing results, treatments, and more. The purpose of medical charts is to provide clinicians with all necessary information to accurately diagnose, treat, follow, and in many cases, help to prevent medical conditions, disorders, and diseases. The Practice Fusion electronic health record (EHR) system enables you to easily capture all the following information in your patients’ electronic medical charts, including what’s often called PAMI, referring to Problems, Allergies, Medications, and Immunizations:
What other information is included in medical charts?As discussed above, patient charts include office notes for every patient visit or encounter, which contain specific information based on the encounter type, including initial consultations, second opinions, follow-up visits, procedure visits, or encounters during which diagnostic testing takes place. For a consultation or follow-up visit, the provider’s office visit note will include note sections with all information relevant to the patient’s care, such as the following:
When documenting in the Practice Fusion EHR, you can pull forward data from the patient’s chart into a new encounter note, including active medical history, PMH, PSH, family history, current medications, and allergies. Additional note types in a patient’s chart may include SOAP notes and Simple notes (non-SOAP) notes. SOAP notes have separate sections for the Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan sections, whereas Simple notes have one free-text field that comprises the body of the note.2 The Subjective section is the first heading of a SOAP note and describes the personal thoughts and feelings of the patient or a person close to him or her. The Objective section, which documents objective information obtained during the patient’s encounter, may include vital signs, laboratory and imaging results, additional diagnostic data, physical exam findings, and review of documentation from other healthcare providers.2 Who has access to medical charts?The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)’s Privacy Rule gives individuals rights over their health information and sets limits and rules on who is able to view and receive medical information. In addition, HIPAA gives patients and personal representatives of patients (healthcare proxies) the right to access their medical records from their healthcare providers and health plan upon request. It also allows patients or healthcare proxies to ensure the accuracy of all information in their medical records and to identify any inaccuracies that require correction. The Privacy Rule is applicable to all forms of an individual’s protected health information (PHI), including oral, written, or electronic.3 How can Practice Fusion enhance your practice’s medical charts?EHRs such as Practice Fusion have enabled more and more practices to move from paper medical charts to electronic/digital medical records. They have helped healthcare providers share medical notes and other chart data securely and quickly with all those involved in a patient’s care. This includes other ambulatory practices, hospitals, laboratories, imaging centers, clinics, and, of course, patients themselves, with such increasing interoperability streamlining and enhancing patient care. Practice Fusion supports other care-related activities through various interfaces and provides functionality that enables querying to identify specific patient populations, engaging in quality management efforts, and conducting outcomes reporting. The use of EHRs also provides additional benefits, including the following:
Click here to learn more about the Practice Fusion EHR. References:
What should be documented in a telephone screening?Document all calls in which medical information or advice is provided. Documentation should include the date, time, patient's name, name of caller (as well as his or her relationship to the patient), complaints, concerns, questions, and the advice given.
What is a telephone encounter?What is a telephone encounter and when do I use it? o Telephone encounters are used when you make an outgoing or receive an incoming telephone call from the patient and want to document that communication o To complete this type of visit: o Select the Telephone Call button on your main toolbar.
Which activity tab will you find information about a patient's prior admission?It is called the Synopsis Activity, and can be found in your activity menu on the left side of your screen. If you don't see it at first, try looking under the More Activities tab. The Synopsis Activity is an interactive, graphical display of all vitals and events that have taken place during the patient's admission.
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