Ivins Quoted on Hospital Liability with EHR-related Claims, Healthcare Risk Management

04.02.2018

In an article published in Healthcare Risk Management’s April newsletter, John Ivins discusses how hospitals may be liable for EHR-related claims, providing several scenarios as examples. In one example, a child presents to his physician with a fever, rash, and flushness. The child has recently visited a country where tuberculosis (TB) is prevalent. “The initial office note incorrectly indicates that the patient has not been exposed to TB, and the child is initially treated with fluids and antibiotics,” he states. “When the child returns on subsequent occasions due to his condition worsening, the copy-and-paste feature is used to copy the initial note indicating the patient was not exposed to TB. All these events lead to injuries to the child. In this scenario, liability may hinge on whether the cause of harm was the person who initially incorrectly noted that the child had not been exposed to TB, or the EHR system that permitted the information to be repeatedly copied and pasted.”

For the full article, subscribers to Healthcare Risk Management may click here.