Click on your state to find scanning companies
Why Scan Your Medical Charts?Start your Medical Record Scanning Project now to enjoy these benefits.
The patient medical chart is the key document in healthcare. It communicates the specific information that doctors need. The immediate availability of such a record can make health care more efficient. Finding charts in the office or recalling charts from the Record Storage Company can be time consuming. Sometimes charts get lost too. Save Time and Money by Scanning Medical Records.There are all kinds of studies that state how much it costs to create, store, find a document. For example, one study suggests 13% of all files are lost and we spend over a quarter of time searching for those files. Another study suggests it takes 18 minutes on average to locate a file. In some instances, this equates to over $10,000 per year. Money is also saved in reducing the need for so much office space delegated to medical chart storage. Restrict Access to Only Those Authorized.A major accounting firm suggests that documents that are handled daily are done so with little regard to privacy regulations. For example, patient records could be left on a desk or counter and other places where the general public would have immediate access. Electronic Medical Records systems have restrictions built into them so that only the authorized are able to see patient records. One way unauthorized people get access to medical records is when the records are no longer useful and are thrown into the trash instead of shredded. Reduce Time Looking for Charts.
This is one of the most obvious benefits. Patient records are available on the desktop - computer. Don't need to get up and go to the file room. Don't need to look for misfiled charts. Don't need to look for checked out charts. Even is the medical record is being examined by another authorized party, it can still be simultaneously available to all other authorized medical and office employees. Good for the Environment.According to some estimates, if the United States reduced it's paper consumption by 10%, that would be the equivalent of taking a quarter of a million cars off the road. The creation and recycling of paper consumes not only environmentally friendly trees, but fuel to cut and move the trees, power the plant to make them into paper, more fuel to ship the paper to offices. Fuel usage continues as the documents are shredded and taken to the recycler, and then onto the paper mill again. Protection From Natural Disasters.The loss of patient medical records caused by hurricane Katrina, ended up costing taxpayers and insurance companies billions of dollars. Since the charts were destroyed, a great number of medical tests had to be redone at a great expense to patients, doctors and finally tax payers and insurance payers. Other disasters can be harmful, such as an office fire. Fire destroys documents, but so does the water often used to put out the fire. Savings Associated with Medical Chart Scanning
Obviously, this is determined on a case by case basis. You may want to call the Scanning Professional in your area for an overall of your systems and procedures. However, there are some generalities about cost savings.
The more tangible costs include the labor cost to create the file, store the file, retrieve the file and process the file including faxing or copying and shipping. Then there are the tangible costs of the file itself including file folder and label, paper costs, file cabinet costs, shipping costs, fax line costs, etc.
Over the life of the document, if only one in a hundred files is overnighted at a cost of $15, one is faxed at a phone charge of $.50 and your filing cabinets cost $100 and holds 200 files, and you put files in hanging folders at a cost of $.30 each, then already we have a cost per file of roughly a $1.00. When labor is added, the cost per file skyrockets. Labor includes cost to
Without looking very hard, it becomes evident that the cost of the document is between $5.00 and $15.00 and rising each month until the document can be destroyed.
These costs are before the ongoing expenses associated with occupancy, safety, security, etc.
These are the costs before the benefits associated with immediate customer service, immediate access to documents, etc. Typical Motivation for Starting Document Scanning Process.Do you spend too much time retrieving records? Do some of your documents actually get lost? Files stored in a central location and that are reviewed periodically have a great chance of being mis-filed or never refilled. The result is that it takes a great amount of time to find such files.
Do you need more immediate access to files? Is the amount of time it takes to retrieve a file from the file room simply too long? Do you need instant access to the files? Is immediate customer service becoming extremely important?
Are you running out of space for the hard copy files? Are you looking at the costs of special filing systems, such as rolling files? Are you looking at the costs of acquiring more office space for file storage?
Do you feel a need to reduce your overall costs associated with storing, retrieving, refilling and the safety and security of your documents?
Are your files safe in their current storage location? Do your current storage methods comply with the various privacy laws such as HIPAA or GLB or Facta?
If you had a disaster such as a hurricane, flood or fire, are your current documents protected? Scanning Protects the Privacy of Personal Information - The Law
Scanning your confidential documents can make it easier to restrict and control the access of documents to only those who are properly authorized. The laws state that it is the responsibility to do everything in your power to limit unnecessary access to confidential documents. What better way to restrict the access to private confidential information than to remove the paper records and only allow authorized employees access to the digital images. HIPAAHealth Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), was enacted in 1996 and includes provisions intended to safeguard the privacy of patient health records. HIPAA is a significant piece of legislation with onerous penalties. For a full text of the SUMMARY OF THE HIPAA PRIVACY RULE from the Department of Human Services, available online go to: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacysummary.rtf. See page 16 of this document in regards to specifically "securing records under lock and key.…and limiting access….." Data Safeguards. A covered entity must maintain reasonable and appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to prevent intentional or unintentional use or disclosure of protected health information in violation of the Privacy Rule and to limit its incidental use and disclosure pursuant to otherwise permitted or required use or disclosure. For example, such safeguards might include only allowing authorized personnel the access to confidential electronic records. HIPAA LINKS American Health
|
