Patients, care partners & clinicians can reduce record errors with collaborative notes. Dr. Peter Elias shares his note-writing with collaborative partners.

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Expecting an error-free medical record seems unreasonable — too many opportunities, too many forces, too many players, too many perspectives. Not having error prevention and correction hardwired into our workflow and documentation processes also seem unreasonable. Last week we spoke with Virginia Lorenzi about technical solutions to correcting errors in medical documentation. Virginia talked about information system solutions to aid human problems and solutions and understanding the different types of errors. This week I read an article in the Washington Post about mining records for outdated data to enhance billing. Another level of error.

As with any concern, the more you discover, the less you know. I do know that the endpoint is best health. Going upstream — best health includes community and personal habits, which comprise care, treatment, and policy decisions. Upstream from that is analysis and interpretation of data and at the source is data itself, the more accurate, the better. Or moving back downstream — accurate, relevant, accessible data with analysis and interpretation of that data, finally, informing action for best health.

Introducing Peter Elias