3.4A

3.4A
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3.4A
The newest legislation in Florida concerning medical records is law number 64B15-15.004. It is known as “Written Records; Minimum Content; Retention.” This law when implemented will require the physicians always to maintain and keep records of all the patients they serve (Florida Department of State, 2018). The law states that the records must be legible, in English and have sufficient information regarding the patient’s histories, examination results, tests results, records of the drugs prescribed, drugs administered, reports of the consultations and any reports on hospitalization records. Furthermore, the law also requires the doctor to record the medication dispensed, expiration date of the prescription, the name of the manufacturer and the year the medicine was administered. In addition to this, the law also requires that the original records be maintained at all times even if the patient is transferred to other facilities. In this case, only copies of the documents shall be transferred and indicated that they are not the original copies.
Furthermore, the law also states that the person to whom the records are released to should be recorded and noted down. Nevertheless, all the medical records are required to be maintained only for five years. But, in the case where the patient dies, the records shall be subjected to Legislation Number 64B15-15.001 (Florida Department of State, 2018). In my opinion, this legislation will increase the efficiency and provide a practical way by which the patient can access their medical records and how the doctors maintain those records.

Furthermore, the fact that the law requires some essential details to be included, I think that this law will be useful in the event of a legal procedure. I believe the retention time of five years is too little. There might be some instances where the records are needed after five years, and this means that it will be impossible for the individual to access their records.
Reference
Florida Department of State. (2018). Florida Administrative Code and Florida Administrative Register, Rule Chapter: 64B15-15: Written Records; Minimum Content; Retention. Retrieved from https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ChapterHome.asp?Chapter=64B15-15