Our Business Practices
3.4 Business Records and Communications
Maintaining complete and accurate records is essential if we are to meet our mission to provide quality health care. We must never create or change a document for the purpose of misleading anyone, and no relevant information should ever intentionally be left out, hidden, falsified, or covered up.
Complete and Accurate Records
This standard applies to all business records and communications including member, patient, or facility records and claims records that pertain to internal business data; financial and statistical information; timesheets; expense reports; and personnel files. Such business records and communications are used to make critical decisions within Kaiser Permanente. They may also be reported outside Kaiser Permanente to regulators, accrediting organizations, payers, customers, and the public. We must comply with federal and state regulations when preparing and maintaining these records and communications.
We must make sure that all information we give to Kaiser Permanente’s finance personnel, accountants, reimbursement staff, internal and external auditors, and Compliance staff is accurate and complete and fully discloses relevant accounting, financial, and business practices. Anyone who provides data or information that they know or suspect is false is subject to discipline, up to and including termination.
We must cooperate fully during internal and external audits.
If you become aware of any weakness in internal controls, structures, or procedures for recording and reporting medical information or financial and statistical data, you must report the matter to your supervisor, your Human Resources representative, your Compliance Officer, your Controller, or the Compliance Hotline 1-888-774-9100.
No physician or employee should ever be pressured to make false or misleading entries, statements, or alterations in any business record.
Clinical Data, Reports, and Outcomes
Medical records and other clinical documents are very important to ensure safe patient care. We must document clinical events in a clear and precise manner to enable others to understand the documents and to help facilitate accurate diagnostic and service coding, billing, cost reporting, planning, and research.
Consistent with our dedication to the well-being of our patients and our role as an industry leader in advancing health care innovation, we have an ongoing commitment to ensure the quality of all our services, including the use of health care products that are marketed as well as those under development. Each of us has a responsibility to immediately notify our supervisor, Human Resources representative, Risk Manager, Compliance Officer, or the Compliance Hotline 1-888-774-9100 if we become aware of a serious or unanticipated reaction to a health care product. A report should be made even if there is uncertainty of a cause and effect relationship between the product and the event.
Document Retention and Disposal
The retention and disposal of all organizational records (business, financial, and medical) must be done in accordance with:
- Applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
- Licensing and accreditation requirements.
- The National Business Record Retention and Disposal policy or the applicable Permanente Medical Group policy.
Records include information in any format, including but not limited to paper, electronic, audio, or video.
Documents requested for any government investigation or legal proceeding or documents relevant to an expected government investigation or legal proceeding must not be altered or destroyed in any manner.
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Q & A |
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Q: My manager brought me a lengthy report last Friday afternoon and asked me to sign it without reading it. It seemed rather routine, so I signed it without a full review. Who would be responsible for any errors? |
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