Electronic Document Management April News

To be Productive or Non Productive is the Question.
Workflow 101 is the Answer. 

Walk into any office and you will find file cabinets filled with paper. When you look at the desks in the office, you see computers and paper. Why? Given how dependent we are on computers today, why are we still processing so much paper?

The problem is two-fold, found in both the ability for computers to print so easily and in our ability to ignore paper. Automated systems print out report after report, many of which go unread. With staff overloaded, it’s easy to ignore documents. So how then, do we help staff to be more productive?

The answer is within our computers. Typically when companies automate, they still rely on their staff for routine work.  It’s this routine that’s the problem.  Everyone gets bored doing the same thing day in and day out. That’s how paper gets ignored. That’s how companies lose productivity.

The key then, is to automate the routine tasks in your company. Use your staff for their value, which is their ability to make decisions. Use computers and technology to do what they do best, which is to automate tasks that are based upon business rules.
Choosing the tasks to be automated is an important decision. However, the ROI for these types of projects is tremendous. Whenever you can automate routine tasks, you eliminate bottlenecks and improve overall efficiency.  

The easiest way to select projects to automate is to start at the beginning. Remember, when you walk into any office you see cabinets and desks filled with paper. Examine the paper trail for your projects.  Here’s how:

1.    Separate out the types of documents your organization has.
2.    Estimate how many of each document type you get in a given week or month.
3.    Pick your high volume documents.
4.    Find related documents to create document sets.
5.    Describe who touches each document and what they do with it.
6.    Describe the process from when the document enters your organization until its final resting place.
7.    Document how many people and how many man hours are devoted to each process.
8.    Determine how long you must retain the documents for any compliance issues.

Armed with all this, you now know the flow of documents for your high volume documents. Create a document flow diagram that shows any decisions points in the document’s flow. For example, do people make certain decisions or take any actions based on these documents. If they do, and you can describe the conditions that they look for in their decision process, you can automate those decisions.

You can also insert people into the process at this point. If a document needs to be approved, or a task started, you can route documents electronically to the right person at the right time in the document flow. This automation improves your organization’s processes because it eliminates lost documents and document transit time.

You can assume certain things in the process of automating your document flow. First off, you can assume that paper documents will be turned into electronic documents. You can also assume that these documents will now be stored electronically and automatically. This means that you are either accepting electronic documents right into your system or that you are scanning paper documents. This is where a document management system with workflow comes in.

With electronic document management, you can scan, store and retrieve your documents, which by itself increases productivity. The power of a document management system really shows itself when you also automate your document flow.
For more information on how to increase your productivity, please read our Steps to Successful Workflow page, or call us at 866.367.3467 ext. 1

Fines Begin for Healthcare Payors, Providers and Clearinghouses

As of February 2010, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH Act, mandates a federal breach notification requirement for stored health information. In result, healthcare providers now need to find a strategy to properly encrypt electronic patient information, and they need to do this immediately.

The HIPAA Security Rule of 2003 addressed encryption; however, only required HIPAA-regulated entities to evaluate and document whether or not they chose to use encryption based upon their risk analysis. The HITECH Act also extended HIPAA requirements to include Business Partners, beyond the traditionally covered entities, including healthcare payors, providers and clearinghouses.

Now with the right to enforce the HITECH Act provisions upon Business Associates and Covered Entities, the government will be monitoring healthcare organizations closer than ever to make sure they comply. Before the enforcement of the HITECH Act, most health organizations did not make the encryption of data a high priority. Now, encryption is key for ensuring proper data security.

The most effective way to properly encrypt is through the use of healthcare document management software. Many organizations have already implemented HIPAA compliant document management applications that encrypt the transmission and storage of patient information.

Let’s first look at a scenario without storing your information within a document management system. The staff of a healthcare provider saves their files on their desktops and laptops. Sure, you have the capability of turning on the encryption on your laptop so you may think that your information is safe. But what happens if your laptop is stolen, and someone is able to find out your password? Then they have access to your settings and can easily turn off the encryption to view all important or private data.

In scenario two, everyone in your office may use a desktop computer system. Most computer systems do not run encryption on desktops. If someone steals your hard drive, your information is not encrypted and in result, not safe. 

Finally, what if you are, or are using a third party biller? How are you currently processing your Face Sheets and Daily Activity Reports (DARs)? How are you storing your EOBs, and how fast can you access them when needed? The information held on each of these documents must be encrypted while they are stored and while they are being processed.

Healthcare document management compliance software includes solutions to securely regulating these processes. Choose a document management system that uses file encryption. This means two main things:

1.    All communications and all traffic between the end user and the document management system are encrypted. This includes uploading documents, sending messages with attachments, basically any use of the system by the user.
2.    The files themselves when stored in the system, or in other words, files at rest, are encrypted.

With regulations now strictly enforced by the government, don’t risk an unsuccessful compliance audit. You must safeguard healthcare information in a way that it is untouchable by those who should not have access. With guaranteed encryption in place through a document management system, information is only readable to those who are authorized.

For an affordable solution with immediate return on investment, contact us for a free consultation. To learn more on how other healthcare organizations are not only becoming compliant, but are also increasing their bottom line, please feel free to call us at 866-367-3467 ext. 1 or e-mail us.

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