il Procedure.8 The majority of healthcare medical malpractice is
heard in local or state court.
Therefore, it behooves both HIM and legal professionals to begin working together now, if they have not already, to identify
and review any rules regarding e-discovery that have been established within their jurisdiction.
The e-discovery process is as interesting as it is challenging
because, unlike paper, “our digital fingerprints will never fade
from the lives we touch,” and knowing exactly whose digital fingerprint touched which life and when is exactly what utilizing
e-discovery in healthcare is all about.9 ¢
Notes
1. Gallegos, Alicia. “Legal Risks of Going Paperless.” March
5, 2012. www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/03/05/prsa
0305.htm.
2. Ball, Craig. “Beyond Data about Data: The Litigator’s Guide
to Metadata.” 2005. www.craigball.com/metadata.pdf.
3. Skamser, Charles. “$1.2 Billion eDiscovery Market by
2014.” The E-Discovery Paradigm Shift. October 11, 2010.
http://ediscoveryconsulting.blogspot.com/2010/10/12-
billion-ediscovery-market-by-2014.html.
4. Buckles, Gregory et al. “E-Discovery Trends: 2011 Year in
Review and Forecasting 2012.” EDiscovery Journal, December 15, 2011. http://ediscoveryjournal.com/reports/
?mode=edj-reports&id=12.
5. Transcript of February 8, 2012, Hearing at 76:8-12. www.
ediscoverylaw.com/uploads/file/Da%20Silva%20tran-
script.pdf.
6. US Department of Health and Human Services. “HHS
settles HIPAA case with BCBST for $1.5 million.”
Press release, March 13, 2012. www.hhs.gov/news/
press/2012pres/03/20120313a.html.
7. Buckles, Gregory et al. “E-Discovery Trends.”
8. Allman, Thomas Y. 2011. “State E-Discovery Today: An
Assessment and Update of Rulemaking.” http://works.be-
press.com/thomas_allman/1.
9. Allison, Katherine Elizabeth. Remarks at eulogy of Harlan
E. Baldwin, March 8, 2012.
Kim Baldwin-Stried Reich (kbstried@aol.com) is compliance/case manager
and e-discovery professional at Lake County Physicians’ Association based
in Waukegan, IL.
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