Businessperson at work: professional confident office clerk searching files in the filing cabinet Records Management is to help the organization to keep necessary documents accessible for both business operations and compliance audits. Records management activities include creation, receipt, maintenance, use, and disposal of records. A record is content that documents a business transaction. Documentation may exist in contracts, memos, paper files, electronic files, reports, emails, videos, instant message logs, or database records. Paper records may be stored in physical boxes on-premises or at a storage facility. Digital records may be stored on storage media in-house or in the cloud. As per the ‘records management standards’ ISO 15489.1, a record is defined as ‘information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business. ISO 15489.1 also defines records management as the ‘field of management responsible for efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use, and disposition of records, including processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of information about business activities and transactions in the form of records’. How Do Companies Typically Manage Records? Each industry should store its documents for a specific period of time, let’s see below for hospitality. Hospitality Under HIPAA, any HIPAA-related records (such as implementing new protection measures for PHI) need to be stored for six years. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requires that records of costs submitted to federal healthcare programs be kept for five years from the time they were created. If you’re dealing with a work accident, OSHA stipulates that any record of treating an employee’s workplace injury be held for the entire time that employee works for that employer plus an additional 30 years. Veterans’ records typically have to be stored for 75 years, unless they are mentally incompetent at the time of treatment. In that case, the record has to be kept forever. Finally, a recent court ruling found that medical practices can be sued for making a false claim to a federal healthcare program up to 10 years after it happened. So, healthcare providers that deal with federal healthcare programs have to retain records for 10 years to avoid legal trouble. You also have to keep any medical records that relate to an active lawsuit or legal action. The Risks Associated with Owned Records Management Facility Garbage In, Garbage Out The first risk you may be taking focuses on ensuring quality. If you’re not being diligent enough about records management protocols, this apathy could come back to bite you. You’ve probably heard the old adage, “Garbage In, Garbage Out”? And this certainly applies here. Good records management begins with good information capture and filing, especially in today’s fast-paced, document-filled world. If you’re not structured in the data you record, its accuracy, storage locations, and versioning controls, your entire system can quickly descend into chaos. In fact, in a recent survey, 79% of survey respondents reported that they create new documents in their jobs at least several times a week, and 59% of them create them daily or continuously. Mishandling of Information Even your most reliable workers can expose your organization to legal and compliance risks by unintentionally mishandling documents. For example, have you ever found an important form on the copy machine at the office? Or give files to a co-worker without first checking their permissions? Or maybe you know someone who has thrown away a document or record that was either retained or securely shredded? These errors can put you and your organization at risk. Regulatory Fines & Penalties Whether you manage medical records, legal records, or other forms of personal and financial information, the key is solid document retention policy. Without it, you risk being fined significantly, especially if you destroy records too soon or can’t produce them during an audit. You could also incur more risk than you should in legal discovery or an at-fault breach by keeping records beyond their retention dates. One example of this happened a few years back to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. when CPUC fined them $24.3 million due to poor records management. That’s an expensive lesson to learn. Damage During Disasters Natural disasters, floods, and fire can wreak havoc on a business, destroying improperly stored documents forever. Critical and irreplaceable records should be stored in climate-controlled underground vaults and in professional records centers in locations chosen for minimized environmental risks. Time & Efficiency Loss When organizations inefficiently file and manage records, they risk lost time and productivity when employees are forced to track down the information they need to complete tasks. All this time and energy add up to real costs that hit your bottom line. In fact, some workers claim to spend as much as 15% of their workweek hunting down lost paper documents. How Can You Save 90% of Cost with Kayman Records Management? The above charts clearly explain that you can save 90% of the cost with Kayman records management solution. Benefits of Using Kayman Records Management Facility The main benefit of using kayman records management facility is cost Minimization if you have your own records management you will be spending Rs.195 per box per month, but if you are using Kayman RMS you will be spending just Rs. 15 per box per month.