Healthcare is a document intensive industry. From patient forms to prescription records, payment receipts, patient history, demographics, insurance cards, confidential information of patients and medical staff, diagnostic codes and lab results, then multiply this with the huge number of patients who come in everyday and you are dealing with big data. Maintaining this voluminous data efficiently is indispensable for an effective medical practice.
Misplaced or corrupted information could be a matter of life and death in a medical practice, e.g. a list-less retrieval or misplacement of a patient chart, lab result or medical history, could delay treatment and have serious repercussions. Pausing treatment to track down patient data from scattered repositories and computer files uses up precious time which can be employed in more productive processes. To streamline workflow and promise quality patient care, healthcare organizations need to implement an effective document management solution.
Benefits of Using Document Management Software for Healthcare:
- Certain patients with incapacitating illnesses require the aid of multiple physicians. Thus, collaboration between those practitioners is crucial for administering the right treatments, so it doesn’t compromise the health of the patient. Each physician can access the updated data with ease and foster collaboration by storing patient medical records in one centralized location, using document management software.
- A comprehensive patient history is needed by the practitioner for effective decision making. If complete patient records are not provided on time, it could compromise the health of the patient and prevent the doctor from administering the right drugs which wouldn’t conflict with any hidden condition he is not aware of.
- A large proportion of staff time is utilized in transcribing, filing and managing patient charts. Document management software streamlines the process by scanning and filing paper document and converting them to electronic files. These files are stored in a centralized location, accessible to all employees irrespective of geographical location. This alleviates the need to track patient charts through rows and rows of shelves.
- Security and HIPAA compliance ensures the safety of confidential patient data. Each document is protected by permissions to control who has access to what information. This prevents tampering and unauthorized access. Online backing up of data mitigates the risk of data loss in the event of theft, natural calamity or device failure.
