In 2009 the Federal government passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act also known as HITECH. This law mandates that health care records must be kept electronically. This created a tremendous burden on the health care industry, with hospitals and physicians having many past years of paper records. To be compliant with this law health care providers must convert all paper documents into electronic files. Companies that provide medical document scanning services were formed to fill this need.
Doctors, hospitals and clinics literally have rooms of paper records that need to be scanned and converted into electronic records. Careful planning and structure are needed for the process. Otherwise health care providers can end up with electronic garbage rather than electronic medical records.
Paper documents must be arranged systematically to be compatible with the electronic medical records software in current use by the health care facility. Protocols for how to name the electronic files and where to save them for later retrieval must be established. These steps are critical to having retrievable medical records.
Companies that provide services to scan documents are in demand. Especially hospitals and other large facilities have an unmanageable amount of paper documents. They need a service dedicated to relieving them of this administrative burden. Hospital administration does not have time to organize paper files, remove staples and paper clips, scan, save and shred all these files.
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 documents have been scanned, there is still a mountain of paper to handle. Some facilities opt for storing the paper documents, which will be an ongoing expense. The other option is to securely shred the paper. Secure shredding is another service these companies provide. There is a long list of tasks associated with converting the paper documents to electronic files. There is nothing simple about this process.
Services to scan documents are necessary. The physician or hospital should not attempt to hire temporary workers and purchase their own equipment. Services have the skill set for thorough and secure execution of this mandate. Doctors and hospitals do not possess this required skills or equipment.
Doctors, hospitals and clinics literally have rooms of paper records that need to be scanned and converted into electronic records. Careful planning and structure are needed for the process. Otherwise health care providers can end up with electronic garbage rather than electronic medical records.
Paper documents must be arranged systematically to be compatible with the electronic medical records software in current use by the health care facility. Protocols for how to name the electronic files and where to save them for later retrieval must be established. These steps are critical to having retrievable medical records.
Companies that provide services to scan documents are in demand. Especially hospitals and other large facilities have an unmanageable amount of paper documents. They need a service dedicated to relieving them of this administrative burden. Hospital administration does not have time to organize paper files, remove staples and paper clips, scan, save and shred all these files.
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 documents have been scanned, there is still a mountain of paper to handle. Some facilities opt for storing the paper documents, which will be an ongoing expense. The other option is to securely shred the paper. Secure shredding is another service these companies provide. There is a long list of tasks associated with converting the paper documents to electronic files. There is nothing simple about this process.
Services to scan documents are necessary. The physician or hospital should not attempt to hire temporary workers and purchase their own equipment. Services have the skill set for thorough and secure execution of this mandate. Doctors and hospitals do not possess this required skills or equipment.
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 document solutions he recommends you check out www.docufree.com.
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