Medical Records Imaging

If you are in the healthcare industry, it is likely that your practice or clinic deals with large volumes of paper medical records on a routine basis. Your office may start to take on the appearance of a patient file warehouse. To address the situation, you know you must convert those paper records to electronic image format – or, maybe you have already started the transition to electronic health records. The problem is you still have large numbers of paper records in storage, so it is a problem of your historical paper medical records along with possibly the new.

The answer is a medical records imaging solution. Outsource the imaging of your medical records to a company that specializes in document imaging – preferably healthcare document imaging, as they will have the professional equipment and expertise to do the job effectively, quickly, and at a much lower cost than your office trying to stay on top of it. A professional imaging company has high-speed scanners with multiple features that can capture any of your healthcare records in quality resolutions. They can also output your image files in a format of your choosing so that you can integrate them with your current EHR system or incorporate it with one later.

A good choice for a medical records imaging company will also have experience in dealing with the healthcare industry. They will be able to scan, sort/organize, and store your electronic healthcare images in a searchable format for easy on demand retrieval by you at the time of your choosing. Output media would include a choice of CD, DVD, or cloud access solutions. Also, check to see if they have measured service, instead of demanding that your entire healthcare document archive be imaged all at once. This can be helpful in matching up with your current budgetary and functional priorities and you can methodically image all of your medical records over a longer period of time – when it is most convenient for you.

Benefits of Medical Records Imaging

·         Freed up space

·         Less human resources devoted to filing, locating/retrieving medical records

·         Imaging your medical records creates an easy instant backup – in fact, many healthcare practitioners have their documents converted to electronic format for this reason alone

·         You do not have to pay fees for access to your own records, as is the case when you deal with just a document storage company. This is where an imaging solution differs from a run of the mill storage solution

A professional document imaging company will offer pick-up and drop-off service of your source records and whatever output format you choose, so you don’t have to worry about carting the records back and forth during the process. One that has experience working with healthcare records will be HIPAA compliant and will offer certified document destruction, if that is desired - after your records are imaged. Find one and test them out first with a smaller number of records. If all goes well, you have found your answer and can go back at your convenience.