Generally, it is not good practice to delete patient data. However, there may be times where it is called for or even required. For example, the European GDPR stipulates that a patient can initiate their “right to be forgotten”. In this case you can easily delete the data saved in Noah by deleting the patient. Deleting a patient requires the appropriate security rights.
Q: When a patient record is deleted is it completely deleted?
A: Yes, the patient record is not, for example, marked as deleted, it is deleted from the database. The only way to recover the patient record is to restore a database backup.
Q: What should I do if I have a patient that I no longer provide services to?
A: HIMSA suggests that you can mark the patient as inactive. To do so, open the patient record in Noah System, choose “Edit Patient” and set the patient status to “inactive”.
Q: What if my patient requests that I delete their data but I have a legal reason, under the privacy and compliance laws that apply to my business, to keep a copy of the electronic data? How can this be done?
A: You can export the patient record from Noah and then delete the patient record in Noah. If you later need to review the data, then you can import the patient record. It is recommended to use the default export choices that include encrypting the exported file.