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 skill set involved in converting paper documents to electronic goes way beyond the process of scanning documents. Paper medical records must be put into some organizational structure before the documents are scanned. Once scanned the electronic files must be appropriately and accurately named and saved for retrieval as needed. If all of these steps are not done systematically and correctly, all the effort put forth and the money spent will be for nothing.
Health care providers absolutely need a qualified, trusted and secure document scanning service. There are years worth of paper files with paper clips, post its and staples that have to be removed before the documents are scanned. There can also be X rays that need to be converted into electronic images, which requires a special type of scanner.
To be HIPAA compliant, health care providers and scanning companies need to be prepared to provide proof of the chain of custody for all the records they handle. HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Neither the name nor the acronym give a clue as to the meaning and objectives of HIPAA. The Act was intended to safeguard the privacy of protected health information, also known as PHI.
After the hard copies have been converted to electronic files, the question of how to dispose of the paper documents still remains. Some physicians choose to store the paper documents, but that does present an ongoing expense. If the records are to be disposed of, this too must be in accordance with HIPAA. Secure shredding is another service offered by these companies.
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 skill set involved in converting paper documents to electronic goes way beyond the process of scanning documents. Paper medical records must be put into some organizational structure before the documents are scanned. Once scanned the electronic files must be appropriately and accurately named and saved for retrieval as needed. If all of these steps are not done systematically and correctly, all the effort put forth and the money spent will be for nothing.
Health care providers absolutely need a qualified, trusted and secure document scanning service. There are years worth of paper files with paper clips, post its and staples that have to be removed before the documents are scanned. There can also be X rays that need to be converted into electronic images, which requires a special type of scanner.
To be HIPAA compliant, health care providers and scanning companies need to be prepared to provide proof of the chain of custody for all the records they handle. HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Neither the name nor the acronym give a clue as to the meaning and objectives of HIPAA. The Act was intended to safeguard the privacy of protected health information, also known as PHI.
After the hard copies have been converted to electronic files, the question of how to dispose of the paper documents still remains. Some physicians choose to store the paper documents, but that does present an ongoing expense. If the records are to be disposed of, this too must be in accordance with HIPAA. Secure shredding is another service offered by these companies.
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 cloud paper services he recommends you check out www.docufree.com.
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