Backing up

No matter which way you choose to do documentation, you can never have too many backups. Think about what would happen if your clinic were to burn down tonight. Do you have backups of your documentation? Do you have copies of your travel cards?

Backing up your billing is also important. Periodically test your backup system to make sure it is working properly. (Tapes sometimes fail.) Contact your software provider to assist you with performing this test.

The easiest way to backup your documentation, provided it is on a computer, is to make a copy onto a CD-R. This allows you to write to the CD, but does not allow you to erase the information on the CD — an important consideration in court cases because you can produce a CD with the date included. Therefore, you cannot be accused of modifying your notes.