How accurate is the medical record? A comparison of the physician’s note with a concealed audio recording in unannounced standardized patient encounters

Objectives Accurate documentation in the medical record is essential for quality care; extensive documentation is required for reimbursement. At times, these 2 imperatives conflict. We explored the concordance of information documented in the medical record with a gold standard measure. Materials and Methods We compared 105 encounter notes to audio recordings covertly collected by unannounced standardized patients from 36 physicians, to identify discrepancies and estimate the reimbursement implications of billing the visit based on the note vs the care actually delivered. Results There were 636 documentation errors, including 181 charted findings that did not take place, and 455 findings that were not charted. Ninety percent of notes contained at least 1 error. In 21 instances, the note justified a higher billing level than the gold standard audio recording, and in 4, it underrepresented the level of service (P = .005), resulting in 40 level 4 notes instead of the 23 justified based on the audio, a 74% inflated misrepresentation. Discussion While one cannot generalize about specific error rates based on a relatively small sample of physicians exclusively within the Department of Veterans Affairs Health System, the magnitude of the findings raise fundamental concerns about the integrity of the current medical record documentation process as an actual representation of care, with implications for determining both quality and resource utilization. Conclusion The medical record should not be assumed to reflect care delivered. Furthermore, errors of commission—documentation of services not actually provided—may inflate estimates of resource utilization.

IMPROVING GERIATRIC CARE OF INTERPROFESSIONAL PRACTICING PROVIDERS

Practicing providers often struggle with the care of older adults due to knowledge, skill, and attitude barriers. In an attempt to improve employee engagement in the care of older adults, the Geri-EMPOWER (Empowering Medical Providers and Older adults With strategies to Escape Readmission) program was initiated. In this program, case managers and visiting VA rural geriatric scholars participated in a two days of intensive educational sessions including lectures, shadowing inpatient teams and clinic providers, a dementia simulation learning exercise, and an Observed Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) with standardized patient encounters. The 15 initial participating trainees came from a variety of medical backgrounds including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, and psychologists. A 10 item knowledge based pretest and posttest was constructed using the learning objectives of the course. Skills of attendees were directly observed during 4 OSCE stations. Attitudes towards older adults were measured before and after the intervention using the Caroline Opinions on Care of Older Adults (COCOA) scale. Geriatric and palliative care knowledge improved with average knowledge test scores improving from 63% to 86% before and after the course. Participants obtained all minimum competencies during their OSCE exam, and rated this session very highly in their course feedback. Attitudes towards older adults were also found to improve with an average COCOA score increase of 9 points before and after the educational sessions. This innovative course based in adult-learning theory demonstrates that employed interprofessional providers can quickly improve knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards older adults.