Reference no: EM132096988

It is your first week as the health information supervisor of a reception facility in a prison system. During your ini- tial interviews with the staff, you hear complaints of staff- ing shortages and poor relationships with other facilities in the system. There are so few trained medical staff that guards and some record technicians have taken on the responsibility for documenting inmate histories. Mem- bers of the medical staff know they are performing dupli- cate lab tests, but the medical records are not available to verify previous tests and corroborate inmate complaints. You also learn that several inmates are filing law- suits claiming deliberate indifference because a tuber- culosis test was not performed on another inmate who infected his cellmates after being transferred from your facility. Because the medical records are stored by the discharging facility, they are not available to the re- ception center. You know that, by law, the staff must complete a health status within 24 hours and a physical exam within 7 days, but most inmates are transferred after 4 days, which does not provide enough time to transfer records. A cursory examination of the elec- tronic information system indicates that it lacks rel- evant data on prescription drugs, dates of tests, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) status, and allergies and, therefore, cannot compensate for a lack of medi- cal records. The staff turnover rate at the facility aver- ages 40%. 1. How will you prioritize the issues you identify? 2. What recommendations would you make?