Medical records are the most important database when it comes to providing the right treatment for a patient. Earlier, medical records comprised paper documents and these paper documents cannot be preserved properly in the long run. However, today most hospitals and medical practices have embraced document scanning of medical records to convert them into digital files that can be stored, distributed, migrated, replicated, retrieved or accessed quickly. Healthcare organizations associate with bulk document scanning services to convert paper-based medical records into digital format.
Digital medical records help you to store important patient data, treatment plans and other relevant details in a systematic way, and facilitates easy access at the time of need. The medical chart contains various important information such as the patient’s personal data, physicians’ notes, lab reports, discharge summaries, billing forms, insurance forms, imaging records, prescriptions and so on. Accurate and organized medical records also serve as legal documents in medical malpractice lawsuits. Therefore, digitizing and preserving health records is essential to improve efficiency in the healthcare industry.
Shift from Paper-based Documents to Digital Records
Medical records help physicians and other healthcare professionals to provide appropriate care to their patients. These files in paper format can easily become lost or damaged in the long run. Another risk of paper-based medical records is that, hospitals and medical practices are exposed to all sorts of infections and viruses that may spread easily through handling paper records among nurses, doctors, lab specialists and other clinicians. Keeping these risks in mind, medical records scanning has become more important than ever.
With digital medical records, hospitals and medical practices can ensure safety of patient healthcare documentation. Since these records are stored in electronic format, all members of the care team can access them whenever needed and ensure the best timely care for patients. However, there are still many organizations that maintain paper-based medical records. When a patient visits, physicians may need his or her past medical records along with the current health information for better diagnosis and treatment. Archiving old clinical records and preserving them can be difficult and costly, but old documents contribute to apposite patient care. Therefore, old medical records also should be converted into digital format.
Understanding the importance and need of digitization, organizations like the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) are providing incentives and funds to encourage digitization of health records. Thus, the latest health information technology and the digitization of health records have become very important in the current digital age.
Woodstock General Hospital Goes Digital
In 2014, Kathy Lavelle, former Director of Health Records, currently the CFO, found that there was a technology gap. It was difficult to access historical records and it led to significant delays for clinicians. This is when the demand for document scanning of the medical records emerged. The hospital wanted to develop a system that would help them to expand beyond simply storing old documents. They began to digitize their patient files with the assistance of a reliable document scanning company. They scanned about 3,500 pages a day and the indexes were created automatically using a 2D barcode that helps to extract information in real time as the files are scanned. This process of document scanning saved the Records Department $295,000 a year in salary costs, and $25,000 in office supplies, and they were able to lower the office supply budget. With a three-month payback, Woodstock received 258% ROI, which was verified by an expert third-party analyst.
Today, Woodstock Hospital’s patient files are securely and accurately stored and comply with all healthcare regulations. Having digital records allows the hospital to easily send files through secure email or file exchange and answer monthly lawyer and insurance requests. So, implementing a document scanning project has helped to improve the efficiency of the hospital and provides better accessibility to patient records, which helped advance the timeliness of patient care at Woodstock.
Advantages of Document Scanning
- Minimizes cost and saves space reserved for traditional filing
- Up-to-date patient information is made readily available to both doctors and patients.
- Enables document scanning of patient charts, billing information, lab results and insurance documents.
Medical records play a pivotal role in a healthcare organization. Digitization of health records helps in removing the clutter of paper documents in healthcare units. It also saves your money and ensures security of your documents. With the help of a reputable document scanning company in NYC, huge volumes of data can be digitized with accuracy and speed. The medical records scanning service are customized according to the needs of the clients at affordable rates.
