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.
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.
In addition to these challenges, health care providers must be able to prove that the chain of custody of the records during the scanning process has been completely HIPAA compliant. HIPAA is the acronym for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. You would not know it from the name or the acronym, but HIPAA is all about keeping patient health care information private.
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.
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.
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.
In addition to these challenges, health care providers must be able to prove that the chain of custody of the records during the scanning process has been completely HIPAA compliant. HIPAA is the acronym for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. You would not know it from the name or the acronym, but HIPAA is all about keeping patient health care information private.
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 Automated EMR cloud paper management he recommends you check out www.docufree.com.
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