Today, paper medical records are increasingly becoming a thing of the past. It’s because medical facilities are actively looking for better ways to manage their patient information and documents securely. Hospitals and other medical facilities rely on medical record scanning services to keep their patient records safe and remain HIPAA compliant.
However, when you trust a third party to scan your medical records, you need to ensure that they have the required experience to work with EHR and EMR systems. You also need to confirm if they have a streamlined, effective process and offer excellent security and quality control. Once you have found a reliable service, you can enjoy all the benefits they offer.
Here are eight incredible benefits of medical document scanning services:
Simplified Record Management
The best part about keeping digital medical records is how little space they take up compared to paper records. It helps you minimize the space you need for storage and cut down on the time it takes your personnel to sift through and secure medical records as required. It will certainly help you reduce office clutter and become more organized and efficient at your job.
Impressive File Indexing
A compelling benefit of medical document scanning is that it enables you to find, access easily, and share digital medical records. Thanks to how these records are indexed in an electronic storage system, it becomes incredibly convenient to access them quickly. File indexing allows you to search for and sort medical records by file name and other effective filters.
Moreover, it also makes copying and sharing the records as easy as possible. Access to these files is exceptionally critical in modern medicine since many procedures, such as complicated surgeries, require records to be accessed and shared between multiple healthcare providers.
Reduced Operating Costs
A digital medical records management and storage system will help you reduce or even cut multiple operating costs. These include labour costs involved in manually filing all medical records, space costs that go into investing in filing cabinets and data storage rooms, and supply costs for stationery, office supplies, and printer ink.
Improved Patient Care
When you scan and digitize your medical records, you will find patient information more effectively and quickly. Moreover, you will have a seamless record of patient history, regardless of how extensive it is. Medical records scanning and digital storage also remove the likelihood of missing information or charts, which will undoubtedly help you offer better care to your patients.
Moreover, you will have the opportunity to utilize the space you were using to physically store medical charts and records to attend to more patients. You can also use that space to provide your patients with various facilities that will help them relax at your medical facility.
Integration with Electronic Health Records & Electronic Medical Records Systems
Medical data scanning doesn’t just eliminate tedious manual labour. It also enables doctors and nurses to quickly search and access medical records via your electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR) systems. It equips doctors to review patient charts from the comfort of their home office or anywhere remote, as long as they have a smartphone.
HIPAA Compliance
HIPAA requires you to retain all medical records and ensure the protection of patient information. The medical records scanning process ensures complete HIPAA compliance thanks to automated retention tracking and the added protection of an EHR system’s security. With your medical records digitized, you can stop worrying about storing large patient forms manually and spending physical resources on data security. Moreover, since your data will be secured digitally, you won’t have to worry about disaster recovery due to losing medical charts.
Boosted Data Security
Another undeniable benefit of using medical record scanning services is the improved data security that will help you comply with HIPAA. EHR systems use varied methods to protect the sensitive protected health information (PHI) and patient medical records that they contain.
Moreover, you can also protect your data with tiered access controls, which will ensure that only relevant departments can access specific sensitive data. You will have the benefit of basic encryption protections and tools to protect your encoded medical records. This way, even if your data is breached, the one breaching it will need a decryption key to access it.
Flexibility
One of the most convenient benefits of medical record scanning services is that these technicians can scan your documents on-site. They can scan all sorts of medical records, including labs, fetal monitoring strips, ECG or CKG strips, microfilm, physician notes, X-rays, and so much more. This way, you will not have to worry about your data getting misplaced.
Now that you know all about the benefits of medical record scanning, it’s time to find a reliable scanning company that can visit on-site, scan all of your medical records, and store them safely and securely for quick access.