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| Judge: No easy fix for medical-chart limbo By Mark Noack [ mark@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 11:27 AM PDT U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Dennis Montali said Friday morning that simply giving thousands of records back to patients could be the best option left to resolve the growing troubles that have emerged from the closure of the Coastside Family Medical Center. Montali gave guidance to fix what he perceived as weeks of “rancor” between the court-appointed trustee and the former directors of the Coastside clinic. The two parties have been feuding through court-filed paperwork after trustee E. Lynn Schoenmann made a motion last month to dismiss the bankruptcy. Schoenmann previously argued that the former clinic board of directors had sought bankruptcy protection only after “squandering” all the money that could have been used to deliver medical charts to patients. Unlike other cases of bankruptcy, medical centers have an obligation under state and federal law to ensure medical records find their way back to patients or their doctors. The former clinic board members have argued the trustee is the one who wasted money by spending most of the $52,000 in assets left at the clinic without making any progress toward getting medical charts back to patients. Several local volunteers have offered to help the trustee deliver patient records, but Schoenmann has reportedly rebuffed their offer of help. The Coastside medical center closed abruptly in March after directors announced they could no longer pay clinic staff. The sudden closure left approximately 8,000 patients scrambling to secure medical charts and find new physicians. About seven weeks after the closure, the clinic board of directors filed for bankruptcy, turning over all assets — including about 37,000 patient records — to the trustee. Schoenmann defended her actions on Friday, saying the question of how exactly to distribute medical records in an affordable way falls into “a legal gray area.” Schoenmann said she has insufficient funds to finance any system for getting records back to the patients. “It takes an extraordinary amount of labor and resources to go hunting for records. It's time consuming,” she said. “This is a hot potato ... There's a lot of people who want to volunteer for a few afternoons, but no volunteers are willing to step up and take responsibility.” Coastside volunteers say that isn’t the case. Dr. Grant Weiss, spokesman for the Phoenix Project, says Schoenmann had denied proposals from his group to secure and distribute the inventory of about 3,000 active patient records taken from the clinic. “We have contacted our volunteers and most are willing to assist,” Weiss said. “Rome is burning while the senators argue, and our issue is with the active records.” Iain Macdonald, attorney for the clinic directors, said that the trustee’s motion would throw responsibility for the records back on the clinic directors, who lack resources to distribute them. Montali decided to hold off on dismissing the bankruptcy case, saying that working with the Coastside community remained the best option available for getting records out to patients. He advised Schoenmann and the former board of the clinic to meet together under a mediator to find a new way to resolve the dispute. “This case doesn't lend itself to an easy fix,” the judge said. “We’re a bunch of bankruptcy people suddenly becoming health experts.” |