Few environments must manage as many records and files as a healthcare provider. Hospitals, clinics, and private medical practices are forced to handle overwhelming amounts of data in the form of medical records and billing information. On top of that, regulations require healthcare providers to retain this information for a certain number of years, even after patients leave or pass away. Managing all of this data in paper form is inefficient at best, a recipe for disaster at worst. Thankfully, there’s an antidote; an affordable but effective way for healthcare providers to manage all of their records and files in digital form: document management.
A document management solution enables you to digitize patient records and files, eliminating the need to work with paper versions of these documents. By effortlessly capturing, storing, and retrieving patient information, healthcare providers will experience:
Lower costs – By doing your record keeping electronically through document management, you’ll slash the amount of time required to manage all of your patient information. This translates to fewer employees required to handle the once prodigious workload of logging or retrieving paper records. Digital documents also reduce your spending on office equipment, paper, and consumables such as ink and toner cartridges. Finally, without paper documents to file, you’ll no longer need the physical storage space to house patient records. Electronic data can be stored in an organized, efficient manner in a fraction of the space as its paper counterpart with the help of a document management solution.
Better customer care and service – Expansive volumes of paper files are difficult to manage and keep track of. With these documents in digital form they won’t be lost or misplaced, preventing pertinent patient information from being inaccessible to staff. Document management also reduces processing time, which enables providers and staff members to spend more time with patients tending to their needs.
Improved security and compliance – Healthcare professionals must comply with strict HIPAA guidelines to ensure the security of protected health information. When documents are stored in paper form, it can be difficult to ensure the sensitive data within them is kept from prying eyes. However, with the help of a document management solution, your files can be protected by access controls and audit trails to ensure the integrity of their information. A document management solution provides administration, physical, and technical safeguards necessary to ensure regulatory compliance.
Paper documents and files cause nothing but headaches for healthcare providers, who have more important matters to attend to: the well being of their patients. By putting a document management solution in control of your files and records, you’ll eliminate those headaches and be free to focus all of your attention on your patients instead of your documents. To learn more about our document management solution, contact Golden Gate Office Solutions today.
