Editing Signed Documents When You Are Not the Author

In SmartCare, there is a setting to determine a document type is editable by non-authors. This means that if the author has signed the document, someone who is not the author can “edit” the document, which creates a new version of that document. The old version is saved for auditing purposes, but the new version is considered the current and complete version.

Most documents in SmartCare are clinical in nature and so generally shouldn’t be edited by anyone but the author themselves after signing. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as documents that are fully completed by a client and simply entered into SmartCare by a user.

State Reporting documents are most often not clinical in nature and are simply data collection tools. Some, however, may be clinical in nature, such as the CANS.  CalMHSA has been asked by counties to make all state reporting documents editable by non-authors in order to correct state reporting records. Counties should be cautious when editing any document to ensure they are only addressing administrative pieces of the record and should not edit the clinical record without clear cause.

Related Articles: How to Amend a Signed Document