In the wake of Hurricane Sandy: Health IT 1, Paper Records 0

Were patient records lost or destroyed during Superstorm Sandy? Are these documents floating around Southern Manhattan or along the Jersey Shore somewhere? How did health information technology systems fare? The answer is, unfortunately, paper patient records were another casualty of the storm.

Health information technology, meanwhile, held up well. Administrators at a recently-acquired Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Queens had begun the lengthy process of transferring from paper records to an electronic health record (EHR) system when Hurricane Sandy interrupted the upload. According to officials at the Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS), the Queens FQHC lost 1,500 paper records as the water levels rose. Lawrence Armenti, a Newark primary care doctor, said the process for rebuilding a lost or destroyed paper record is difficult and time consuming. Doctors are legally required to keep patient records for seven years, so it has to be done. To start, Dr. Armenti suggested notifying the insurance companies involved so they can record that the file is lost. Physicians can try and rebuild the record using data from labs, hospitals or other providers. Information from the past 6 to 18 months should be included, he said. The health IT system, however, was not affected because the data was being stored offsite, the official said.