if you didn"t document it you didn't do it.

Anybody believe this?
Certainly the malpractice courts and the state disciplinary boards do not believe it. And even if you carefully documented your warnings and full disclosure and informed consent. Then you document how each step was done according to nationally accepted guidelines, you may be sued and forced to settle or to lose in front of a jury everything you own and your reputation, which has taken so long to build. If you do it, its done. The insurance companies may not reimburse you if they don't like your documentation but even though you can prove it was done payers are looking for anyway out of paying. Even to the extent of saying that the procedural documentation is a chore that gets done magically every time you do a procedure and it doesn't really take time in and of itself. JUST LIKE PRIOR AUTH OR RESUBMITTING THE BILL THROUGH THE APPEALS PROCESS BECAUSE THEIR SOFT WARE ALWAYS DENIES PAYMENT, WHETHER YOU DOCUMENT IT OR NOT. Documentation does not change the past or the future. EHR's for the most part are instruments to generate a lot of documentation from minimal work. They give the insurance what it wants even though it is patently absurd. Remember that lawyers bill by the 1/10 of an hour and do not have to document anything but their correspondance with the court. They bill for curbsides for phone calls and form letters. AND THEY ARE PROFESSIONALS TOO. THE ONE'S THAT MADE THE RULE THAT A BREAST REMOVAL DID NOT TAKE PLACE, IF YOU DID NOT DOCUMENT IT, UNLESS SOMEONE IS DISSATISFIED. UNTIL THEN THE BREAST JUST DISAPPEARED, ALL BY ITSELF.