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The transition from paper to electronic medical records is mandated by law. HITECH is the acronym for the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, which was signed into Federal law in 2009. It has been the bane of existence for many health care providers. The change from paper to electronic records has turned out to be a lot more complicated than legislators anticipated. Medical document scanning services are needed to accomplish this mountainous task.
Hospitals and all other facilities serving patients have literally tons of paper medical records. To convert all these paper records to electronic files is no easy task. It requires careful planning and a special set of technical skills. For the files to be retrievable there must be naming protocols and an organized filing system. The electronic files must be retrievable for future patient care.
The process involves organizing the paper documents systematically before scanning them. As documents are scanned the must be named and saved in keeping with protocols established that will make the electronic files easy to access and retrieve. If electronic files are not retrievable, they are virtually useless.
The companies that provide these services must be qualified and trusted to securely perform the job. Someone has to take the time to remove staples and paper clips and organize the paper documents before they can be scanned. The patient records may include X rays, which also need to be converted to electronic.
The health care providers must maintain the chain of command of records in order to be compliant with HIPAA regulations. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is referred to as HIPAA. The purpose of HIPAA is to ensure the privacy of health information. Every time records change hands there is a risk of breaching this privacy.
Once all the hard copy documents have been scanned, the service is left with a mountain of paper that must be securely destroyed or securely stored. The decision to shred or store must be made before the documents are scanned. Scanned documents are stored electronically, but if the health care provider wants to store paper documents there will be an ongoing expense for this service also.
The companies that provide scanning services are indispensable. Hospitals and other facilities are smart to outsource the work. The scanning companies will have employees trained to do the job correctly and in keeping with HIPAA and HITECH regulations.
Hospitals and all other facilities serving patients have literally tons of paper medical records. To convert all these paper records to electronic files is no easy task. It requires careful planning and a special set of technical skills. For the files to be retrievable there must be naming protocols and an organized filing system. The electronic files must be retrievable for future patient care.
The process involves organizing the paper documents systematically before scanning them. As documents are scanned the must be named and saved in keeping with protocols established that will make the electronic files easy to access and retrieve. If electronic files are not retrievable, they are virtually useless.
The companies that provide these services must be qualified and trusted to securely perform the job. Someone has to take the time to remove staples and paper clips and organize the paper documents before they can be scanned. The patient records may include X rays, which also need to be converted to electronic.
The health care providers must maintain the chain of command of records in order to be compliant with HIPAA regulations. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is referred to as HIPAA. The purpose of HIPAA is to ensure the privacy of health information. Every time records change hands there is a risk of breaching this privacy.
Once all the hard copy documents have been scanned, the service is left with a mountain of paper that must be securely destroyed or securely stored. The decision to shred or store must be made before the documents are scanned. Scanned documents are stored electronically, but if the health care provider wants to store paper documents there will be an ongoing expense for this service also.
The companies that provide scanning services are indispensable. Hospitals and other facilities are smart to outsource the work. The scanning companies will have employees trained to do the job correctly and in keeping with HIPAA and HITECH regulations.
About the Author:
Loris F. Anders is an office management specialist focused on optimizing workflow processes in document management. If you would like to learn more about Medical document scanning management he recommends you check out www.docufree.com.
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