Neurodawg,
First, congrats on your new move. I don't think Epic is a bad as Centricity, lol. All of the above methods are good. I have three ideas, that I feel are the only way to do it. I wish I knew how long you had although it doesn't really matter. In some sense you have 30 days.
First make several backups of your database. Hard drives go bad, etc. I mean the hard drives you go back to. Maybe even put one in a safety deposit box. We are talking ten years here. When you are absolutely not going to use it again, MAKE A BACKUP USING SSMS ON SQL ITSELF. This is the best backup you can have.
Second:
a) one way is to "hire" your own service. Say someone like a 16 yo (if you can find a way to designate him as a HIPAA compliant employee) and pay him for each CD and stamp. etc. You don't need DVDs, only CDs.
b) I looked but couldn't find but there may be companies out there that do this. I would thing the graph would look like a backslash from the top of the x to the bottom of the y, with ten requests one day to one request on each day once you get four months out.
c) If you haven't signed yet, make this part of the contract. That a receptionist at your new job is responsible for doing these and use flash drives. Much quicker. The only issue with flash drives is it took two years for other practices to figure out what a CD was. They were like, "Where's the paper?" Some companies don't allow flash drives and may not even have USB ports on their computers. Flash drives are way more likely to contain viruses.
c) Best method: In my opinion the best method if you have two to four months to get ready is to hire someone or use one of your staff to go from A to Z, makes pdfs, and burn them to CDs clearly labeled with not only names and DOBs, but a large number associated with an Excel spreadsheet. Make 26 boxes to put them in hopefully in alphabetical order. I remember when people changed to AC, one user who is still on AC had his staff move EVERY paper chart to AC at one time, not as they used them like most practices. I thought he was crazy. Once this is done, and it will take 40 or more hours, it is done. When people ask for records, you can mail them or, better, have them pick them up. You can easily make it sound like a favor. "Yes, Ms. Smith, I already have that ready for you. Can you swing by and pick them up? You can also have the technology 'two CD burners in a computer' or a more high-tech machine that will copy CD to CD or, easier, CD to flash drive. This means you can tell her that if she swings by you can give her two copies, one for the practice and one for her. People would salivate at the idea of having their own record. A flash drive from a company that you buy in bulk (I say flash drive, because it takes seconds" would allow you to get a signature from the Ms. Smith so that you don't get a SECOND NOTICE, THIRD NOTICE from the practice that swears they never got them.
In my opinion, there is no other way than to do it all at once. Yes 15% of them will sit in storage or your office or at home and never get picked up, but it would be great to have them done. When you make them, save the PDF on a computer, so that when an office states they didn't get it, you can send again quickly.
Another idea is to throw a CD or flash drive in a box clearly labeled for an office marked January, February, etc., and throw them in the box. At the end of the month (even though one was put in two days ago) take the box to the office and dump them. Have them sign off on them. Or mail a package.
Keep in mind, records mailed directly to a patient or picked up by a patient DOES NOT need a release. We obtain a records release if they pick up just to have a record, but it is not necessary otherwise. If you wish you can encrypt or password protect the pdf if you send directly to the patient.
Lastly, when someone asks for records, make it very clear that it will be there within 30 days. You do not have to go in separately and send some records because they have an upcoming appointment. This is definitely true in situations where a patient voluntarily leaves an ongoing practice. In this situation, they have no choice so, in good faith, you probably could.
I also can't talk for every state, but in most it is a myth that you give 30 days. A healthy person may only have 15 days to find a new doctor and a sick kid may need 60. But, this doesn't apply to you.
So, in review, doing them all at once or having them done at the office (both could be done at your new office). Just keep track of Smith so you don't have to do her again.
