The effects of positive incentive programs on physician chart completion.

It seems evident that both concurrent review programs and positive incentive programs have been implemented by a number of facilities in which little, if any, monitoring has occurred. Only half of the hospitals performing concurrent analysis provided statistics concerning the percentage of daily discharges arriving in the medical record department complete. Only one fourth of the hospitals provided information concerning the number of incomplete and delinquent medical records before and after the implementation of concurrent review. These data underscore the need for medical record administrators to evaluate the effectiveness of various strategies used to improve completion of medical records. Likewise, only a few of the hospitals that have implemented an incentive program for chart completion were able to provide all of the requested statistics concerning their chart status prior to and following the implementation of their programs. The results of the study indicate that numerous innovative procedures have been implemented in hospitals, with varying degrees of impact on the number of incomplete and delinquent medical records. The use of positive incentive programs in conjunction with punitive action is effective in helping to reduce the number of incomplete medical records.