Prevent Senior’s system is subject to tampering, says Cremesp

The system used by the Prevent Senior network to record the electronic medical records of patients does not provide security to prevent documents from being tampered with, according to the president of Cremesp (São Paulo Regional Council of Medicine), Irene Abramovich.

The information was given during testimony to the CPI of Prevent of the City Council of São Paulo this Thursday morning (9). “We cannot guarantee [que os prontuários não tenham sido adulterados]”, said Abramovich.

The health operator is accused by former employees and patients of tampering with the medical records to change the classification of diseases and omit Covid-19 in deaths registered in the network’s units. The company denies any fraud in this regard.

Cremesp’s lawyer, Carlos Michelis, said that the operator did not inform the classification of the degree of security used by the electronic medical record system, according to the graduation established by the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics.

In a statement, Prevent Senior denied the lack of security in the electronic medical record system. “Changes or fraud are impossible in the current system”, informed the company.

According to the president of Cremesp, the network’s units were subject to inspection by the entity on October 1st, when the irregularity was found.

Abramovich said she was frightened by statements from members of the health operator to the Senate CPI, in which the sharing of passwords for the medical record system between doctors and nurses was confirmed, who filled in the information and stamped prescriptions, attributions restricted to doctors. “I’ve never seen this in over 50 years of medicine,” he said.

With 25 inquiries to investigate Prevent Senior in progress, Cremesp asked for the submission of medical records recorded during the pandemic and has not yet been attended to by the company, according to the president.

Abramovich also said that the entity took legal action against the health operator to explain the appointment of doctor Fernando Oikawa as clinical director.

In testimony to the CPI of Prevent, Oikawa said that he was appointed to the position and, according to the president of Cremesp, his election to the position was recorded in the minutes. “He was director of the ten hospitals, which is prohibited,” says the president.

Sought, Prevent Senior said that the elections for the positions of clinical directors follow the established rules and were validated by Cremesp. “Prevent Senior has always respected medical autonomy and regrets the anticipation of value judgments regarding investigations not yet finalized by the council,” he said in a statement.