Record correction requests

Record correction requests: turn it on

Patients have the right to ask you to correct their health record. Record correction requests gives them a page in the portal to ask, gives your staff one list to answer from, keeps every answer with the chart, and reminds your administrators before the deadline. Requests made on paper, by phone or in person are logged in the same list, so every request follows the same rules.

1. Turn the feature on. A practice administrator opens Admin → Additional Features, finds Record correction requests, switches it on and presses Save Changes. It is off for every practice until you turn it on.
2. Check the deadlines. Open Admin → Patient Portal Configuration and choose the Correction requests tab (it appears only while the feature is on). Under Deadlines and reminders:
   • Days to answer a request — 30 to 60 days from receipt; 60 unless you change it. A change applies to new requests only.
   • Remind administrators this many days before — 1 to 30 days; 7 unless you change it. Each practice administrator gets a to-do, kept until the request is answered.
   Press Save; Hero confirms “Saved. New requests use these settings.” Changing this tab needs the permission to manage the patient portal (Manage patient portal, preregistration, and landing site); practice administrators have it.

Turning the feature off hides the portal page, the list, the chart section and the banner. Requests already received are kept.

How a patient asks for a correction

1. Open the page. In the portal the patient opens Profile → Personal Info and taps Request a correction to your record (“Something wrong or missing in your health record? Ask your practice to fix it.”). The page says the practice will answer within 60 days.
2. Say what is wrong. What part of your record is this about? offers My personal details, Health problems, Medications, Allergies, Visit notes, Test results, Immunizations (shots), Visits, Billing and Something else. Which record? is optional (“my visit on June 3”). What should change? is required (“Say what is wrong and what it should say instead.”); Why? is optional.
3. Send it. Send request shows “Sent to your practice. They will answer by …” with the due date.
4. Follow the answer. Your requests lists each request with a status: Waiting for your practice (with the date the practice will answer by), Accepted (with the text added to the record), Not accepted (with the reason and the explanation) or Withdrawn. While a request is waiting the patient can Withdraw this request. When you give more time, the patient sees “Your practice needs more time: …” with your reason.
5. Disagree, if they want to. On a request you did not accept, the patient can Add a statement of disagreement (one statement; it becomes part of the record). The page also tells them they may ask you to include their request and your answer whenever you share this information, and how to complain to the practice or to the HHS Office for Civil Rights.

Hero sends the patient a short notice (text, email or app notification) when you answer, give more time, or respond to their statement: “Your practice answered your request to correct your health record. Sign in to your patient portal to see it, or contact the office.” The notice carries no details from the request.

Answer requests from the Correction requests list

Open Admin → Patient Registration and press Correction requests (next to Profile changes). The button counts the requests waiting, in red when one is overdue. The list shows the soonest due first; switch between Waiting, Answered and All. Each request shows the patient, the part of the record, who asked and when (received … in the portal for portal requests), a due chip (Due in 12 days, Due today, Overdue) and what the patient asked.

Log a request made on paper, by phone or in person

1. Press Log a request in the list, then Choose patient.
2. Fill in the request. Part of the record, Date received (today unless you change it; it can’t be after today or more than a year ago, and the practice’s days to answer count from it), Which visit (optional), What should change and Why, in the patient's words (optional).
3. Press Log request. It joins the list as waiting.

From a note: open the note in the chart (the Notes tab, or a visit under Encounters) and press Correction in its action row (“Log the patient's request to correct this note”). The patient and the note are filled in for you; answer it later from Correction requests.

Where answers show, reminders and limits

• Amendments in the patient-info panel. A chart with any correction request shows an Amendments section in the vertical patient-info panel (below Referral Communications), with N waiting while any request is open. Each entry has its status (Waiting for an answer, Accepted, Declined, Withdrawn by the patient), what was asked, the amendment or the reason declined, the patient’s statement of disagreement and your response.
• The note banner. A note (or a note of a visit) that a request is linked to shows “Correction request on file — accepted …” (or declined, or waiting with its due date) above it. Show details opens the amendment and any statement.
• To-dos for administrators. Once a day, each practice administrator gets a to-do titled Correction request due … for each request inside the reminder window or overdue (high priority when it is overdue or due within two days). The to-do never contains what the patient asked. When a patient adds a statement of disagreement, whoever declined the request gets a to-do Patient disagreed with a declined correction request.