Electronic medical records scanning systems have exponentially improved the way medical professionals’ store, access and share medical information. In order for hospitals, medical centers and private practices to gain the most out of their EMR systems, their paper medical charts must be scanned, indexed and uploaded into the system.
Benefits of digitizing medical records
Medical record scanning offers many benefits. These include:
1. Faster access to documents
Electronic medical records allow medical staff to access patient information immediately, which is essential in emergency situations. For example, doctors can instantly check on their tablet to see if a patient has any allergies before administering medicine.
2. Resources can be focused on patient care
Digitizing medical records eliminates the need to manually search for paper files, which is very time consuming and takes up valuable time that can be better spent treating patients.
3. Improved Disaster recovery
Medical records that have been scanned and are backed up in a cloud system are protected from being lost or damaged. Digital files are immune to the damaging effects of fire, flooding and other potential disasters.
Medical record scanning options
Scanning and indexing a high volume of medical charts is a very arduous process. It requires specialized equipment, technical expertise, and a dedicated team. Unless it’s a very small medical practice with a minimal number of charts, most medical centers and hospitals will outsource their backfile conversion project to a professional scanning company.
The next question is, should you have the scanning performed on-site at your facility or off-site at the vendors facility?
On-site medical record scanning
On-site scanning means that the scanning company brings in their team and equipment to perform the work right in your hospital or medical office. This is very convenient because you will still have access to your files right when you need them and it is the most secure method since your documents never leave your building.
For this to work you will need to have an adequate amount of space for workstations and technicians to operate daily until the job is complete. This could be for a few days or up to a few months depending on the volume of document to be scanned, which can be cumbersome. On-site scanning also cost up to 30% more for the overall project.
Off-Site Medical Record Scanning
This is when a scanning company boxes up your documents and brings them to their facility to be digitized. This may sound like a scary thought but is generally very safe. It is very important to choose a vendor that has a HIPAA compliant facility and has security features in place such as 24-hour video surveillance and security alarms to ensure the safety of your medical records.
Some vendors offer a Document Retrieval Guarantee. This means that you can request specific files that you need via email, and the scanning company will locate, scan, index, process and then securely email them to you within a few hours.
As you can see, there are many options available to hospitals and doctors’ offices who would like to digitize their medical records and patient chart. Digital medical records have become a necessity in the modern era, so it’s best to digitize now rather than later.