Integration of Old Records into an EMR/PM: A Plan Gone Awry

A pediatric group practice decided to purchase an electronic medical record/practice management (EMR/PM) integrated system.  The Practice was an office structured around paper documentation. The Practice had been in continuous operation since June 10, 1974 and had accumulated over 122,670 individual patient charts. Of that total, 44,560 charts were classified as active patient accounts. The Practice defined an active chart as a patient that had been seen or a phone call taken in the last three years.  Integration of these charts into the new EMR/PM system was requested by the practitioners due to their concern over any potential lack of information during a future clinical visit. The issue of how to handle the existing paper records during this conversion to the new EMR/PM system was the subject of an unforeseen event.