It is the responsibility of a veterinary office to establish, maintain and destroy records kept by the business. A necessary part of these records chronicle the history of a practice’s clients, procedures, billing and appointment data; but, the complete list of items that should be maintained is much larger. Having an established record system in place that all individuals in the office can work with will help the office run more efficiently.

Establishing an Efficient Record System

In order to meet the needs of the business:

• Careful thought and planning must be given to consider all of the necessary requirements for the record system, for example:
• The record system must be able to expand for future business growth
• The needs for a backup source should be established as a dedicated source for automated files
• Procedures must be set in place for the transfer of documents as they are retired

Points that ensure that the record system is efficient:

• Consideration needs to be given to physical housing of records, ease of access and dedication of space
• Cost effectiveness
• Training simplicity
• When devising the record system, steps must be taken to guarantee that all staff can operate the system
• Ease of utilizing the record system for staff working in other areas of the office
• Ability to link records to others in the office to share the stored information
• Easy access to pertinent information will further provide the ability for all office members to collaborate on different projects

Disposal system for outdated records:

• Check and establish guidelines on length of time that records must stay active
• Check with the insurance company as to how long they require records to be kept in case of claims
• Purchase a paper shredder to use for disposal of small quantities of files
• Outdated records can be boxed up and stored, but this can become costly when considering space that is solely for the use of the storage of archived files
• Consider contracting with off-site business that handles, picks up, and shreds disposable files

Automated Record Systems

Many offices are using automated systems to maintain and archive office records. These systems:

• Offer online sites that assist to establish an automated record keeping system for most types of businesses
• Serve to archive and store retired office records
• Can reduce the amount of physical space required for archiving paper records
• Can reduce the need for dedicated hard drive space for an office’s computerized records

Following an in-place policy that establishes and implements a record system will allow your business to run more efficiently. If records are set up and maintained accordingly, the business should not only see a reduction in dedicated manpower hours spent on the record system, but will notice an increase in productivity, physical space and financial gain. Need more help on establishing your record keeping system? Visit our practice management services online or call your Covetrus representative today at 855.724.3461.