4. Are there set times frames for when documentation must be completed?

Question

In a mental health agency, what is the deadline for having your notes and documentation in? If you don't do it on time do you get in trouble?

Answer 1

There are different deadlines for specific things.
When I worked in a state psychiatric hospital, the admitting physician had to do a physical exam and have it the chart within 24 hours. The Medical/Psychiatric Assessment had to be done within 24 hours. The Discharge Summary had to be done no less than 15 days after the patient was discharges.
Most progress notes need to be done every seven days, and there are other time quidelines for other documentation such as the Social Assessment and Treatment Plans.
Generally, staff are expected to get their progress notes done by the end of each working day.
I used to review all the files and keep track of everybody who was late on their documentation. There was usually no real disciplinary action other than getting put on a list and having the deficiencies sent to the supervisors of whoever was responsible. Sometimes they used poor or late documentation as an excuse to fire somebody, but it didn't usually happen unless it was really outrageously bad--like something that was obviously faked or the staff person just didn't seem to have a clue how to document the right things in spite of training.
I used to review psychiatric outpatient records for Medicaid after that. One doctor got in big trouble for questionable billing practices, and I went through his documentation to review what was consistent or inconsistent. He wound up losing his license. Most of the time it wasn't that dramatic; most of the doctors did okay.