Health Care
Health care
professionals know the value of the reams of paperwork they generate on their
patients' behalf each year. Insurance forms generated by patients take a great
deal of time to process, expedite and file. But physicians' offices also know
they can reuse documents generated for one matter to speed execution of another,
and then bill insurance carriers more efficiently and accurately.
Such documents contain a very real, albeit
potential, value in the form of time that can be applied to managing paper flow
and accessing forms quickly. Managing an effective system for insurance billing
not only increases the physicians' office productivity, it generates additional
revenue streams as well.
Every minute physicians waste looking for information reduces time spent with
patients. In a perfect world, necessary files would be consistently and
immediately accessible, enabling physicians to maximize time spent.
However, nearly every physician has encountered the "missing file" syndrome.
When mission-critical information is not in the file cabinet, it could be in a
backfile, on an assistant's desk or buried in the stacks of your own office.
Simple solutions like storing multiple file copies might work for other
industries, but not for health care professionals, given the sheer volume of
paperwork. Such a system would diminish value by multiplying overhead costs like
clerical time, office supplies, space devoted to file cabinets and the life span
of the photocopier. This approach assumes all information contains the same
potential value. In reality, some files may be accessed frequently by many
people and some not at all.
For health care professionals, current imaging and document management
technologies address these issues, providing physicians with fast access to
necessary information. Imaging is the process of scanning a document to create
an electronic file, which can then be manipulated and stored. Document
management describes the meaningful indexing, routing, annotating, archival and
retrieval of electronic documents, which can include scanned pages, Web pages,
e-mail messages, spreadsheets and word processing files.
Here's how the technologies work together in a medical practice setting. First,
clerical workers can use a scanner to create an electronic version of the hard
copy original, just as they would use a photocopier. The original can be sent to
permanent storage while the new electronic image of the document is manipulated
online.
For example, the image can be cleaned up to eliminate unnecessary speckles that
sometimes appear on photocopies, and so forth. In addition, optical character
recognition (OCR) technology translates characters contained in the document's
image into meaningful text that can be cut and pasted into a word processing
file.
Document management solutions allow health care professionals to enter
information about the electronic document, such as its title, author, creation
date and key words including a patient's name, document description and so
forth. Upon creation, the file is archived, perhaps in a folder of items
pertinent to a particular subject, in a network storage device, such as a tape
drive, hard drive or CD-ROM.
Some document management systems enable users to route the file to several
associates, just as they would route a hard-copy original. Documents can even be
faxed or emailed to patients, insurance carriers or other physicians' offices
directly from the system. In addition, some systems enable users to annotate the
document, as they might use sticky notes, and track changes to clarify whose
comments appear. Some systems provide information security features that
restrict confidential annotations, documents or entire files for exclusive
access by specific users, such as the medical practice's principal associates.
When needed, documents can be retrieved by searching for key information about
the document, such as its file type, title or key word. OCR-processed documents
and other electronic text files can be searched for an alphanumeric string
embedded within the document. Descriptions of documents that meet search
criteria are presented, along with their location on the network, usually with a
link that allows users to open the necessary file directly. Users can then print
the document or search for additional information.
Imaging and document management systems can dramatically cut the time physicians
spend searching for necessary information. However, medical practices must
carefully evaluate certain aspects of an imaging and document management
solution, as the wrong system may diminish its overall value.
Total Cost of Ownership
Factors that impact the document management system's total cost of ownership
include not only its entry cost, upgrades and technical support, but its ease of
implementation, the amount of necessary user training, its compatibility with
existing network equipment and its requirements for storage devices and
scanners. The easier the system is to install, support and use, and the more
highly integrated it is with popular platforms, the less expensive it will be to
maintain over time.
Compatibility With Existing Systems
To speed the rate of adoption, the system should complement, not disrupt,
systems already in place. Employees should be able to route and annotate
documents and quickly identify who made which changes. Security features ensure
the confidentiality of sensitive files. In addition, a hierarchical storage
management system uses an intuitive file cabinet/drawer/folder approach, which
is similar to traditional archiving systems.
System Portability
Physicians are among today's growing mobile workforce that relies on cell phones
and laptops. For physicians, a document management solution is useless if it
cannot provide information when they need it, either remotely or through a
dialup connection. During an emergency situation or while out on call,
physicians may especially need instant access to key information.
"Walk-away" Considerations
If the system is problematic, or if the medical practice decides to replace its
document management package as the result of growth or a merger, will existing
mission-critical data be accessible to the new system? Systems built around
proprietary standards can lock physicians into an unwanted application because
users can't access key data any other way. Systems built around open standards
ensure that new packages or custom applications can continue to support older
files after the system is replaced.
Imaging and document management technologies promise dramatic timesaving
benefits for physicians, which can stimulate productivity and efficiency across
the entire medical practice. However, physicians must carefully consider the
requirements, benefits and usability of each system in order to calculate the
total investment and speed of return. If the point of an imaging and document
management solution is to create value, the total investment should produce a
return quickly, while ensuring the accessibility of mission-critical information
for years to come
Benefits of How Imaging can help the medical
industry.
Medical records
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Make medical records instantly
accessible from any room or workstation.
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Supports new Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements.
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Eliminates costs and wear and
tear associated with constant filing and retrieval.
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Eliminates liability associated
with un-filed records being overlooked.
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Integrates with existing
computerized medical records management systems.
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Reclaims space associated with
current hard-copy storage.
X-Rays
Human Resources
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Employee Files
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Health Records
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Safety Records
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Payroll
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Finance
Accounts Payable
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Receivers
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General Ledger
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Trial Balance
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Billing Statements
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