Guidelines on the keeping of patient records

Practitioners belonging to the Medical and Dental Board are advised to comply with the HPCSA Guidelines on Keeping of Patient Records.

The HPCSA Inspectorate Office recently lent their assistance to a joint operation by the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s Anti-Corruption Unit and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation looking into possible fraud and corruption in the issuing of Professional Driving Permits to members of the public.

The investigations revealed that the majority of Medical Practitioners do not have proper records of the patients for whom they completed medical certificates for PDPs, contrary to HPCSA guidelines which prescribes that a health record is defined as information about the health of an identifiable individual recorded by a healthcare professional either personally or at his or her direction.

In guiding the profession, the Practice Committee of the Medical and Dental Professions Board remind practitioners on the importance of compliance to Guidelines on the Keeping of Patient Records (Booklet 9) resulting in penalties in event of non-compliance.

For more information contact the Practice Committee of the Medical and Dental Board.

Reminder on Online Registration and Payment of Annual Fees

A reminder to practitioners who have not yet settled their 2017 Annual fees, which was due by 1 April, to please pay as a matter of urgency. These fees form part of the legal requirements of persons registered in terms of the Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974). Failure to pay these annual fees will result in suspensions or penalties.

This year HPCSA introduced an Online Renewal and Payment Portal which is meant to make the lives of practitioners easy.

The benefits of the online renewal portal are the following:

• Practitioners will be able to go through the renewal process online;
• Practitioners will make annual fee payments and other outstanding amounts, as invoiced, online;
• Practitioners will be able to download an electronic practitioner card including an encrypted QR code, which when scanned, will reveal much more information about the practitioner than is currently the case, with real-time validation;
• Practitioners who prefer the printed format will be able to print their HPCSA registration details from the system;
• Practitioners will be able to view, verify and confirm, or update their contact details, as they renew their membership, or at any time, through this portal;
• The portal allows the practitioner to view their qualification(s) and registration details, and where required, send a service request for queries.