Documents are the foundation of business operations, and healthcare is no exception. However, unlike many modern businesses today, the healthcare industry relies more heavily on documents which often include highly sensitive information. This information is subject to stringent compliance regulations which are not optional. To achieve compliance, healthcare organizations use document management solutions to stay organized, secure, and compliant.
Document management refers to the strategies and tools which a business uses to keep its records organized, accessible, and secure. It delivers many critical advantages which support business growth and success. Read on to discover three major advantages which healthcare organizations acquire when they deploy a solid document management strategy.
3 Reasons Why Healthcare Offices Need a Document Management Strategy
Staying atop the mountain of paperwork and data is critical for any office that wishes to optimize its operational efficiency. Organizing medical records in an office is no small feat. Here are three reasons why offices which handle healthcare documents should have a management strategy in place.
1. Document Management Helps Offices Maintain Compliance
Healthcare organizations handle a tremendous amount of paperwork and data. Much of it constitutes protected health information (PHI). The security of this information is governed by HIPAA, a set of compliance regulations designed to safeguard this information.
HIPAA requires any organization which handles PHI or electronic PHI (ePHI) to satisfy certain rules about the way this data is captured, handled, stored and transmitted. These rules include:
- The Privacy Rule. This rule defines PHI and limits the circumstances in which a person’s health information may be used or disclosed.
- The Security Rule. This rule establishes certain administrative, physical, and technical safeguards or strategies to maintain data security.
- The Breach Notification Rule. This rule defines when and how healthcare providers must notify individuals when a breach of their private information occurs.
A solid document management system helps healthcare organizations satisfy all three rules, thereby achieving compliance. For example, a hospital document management system may include:
- The implementation of secure apps for data capture on an office’s mobile devices.
- Improved security measures for data storage.
- Automation to ensure the correct filing and transmission of information.
- End-to-end security for the organization’s document lifecycle.
- Digitized solutions to keep information secure but still accessible.
2. Organized Documents Mean Better Care for Patients
Document management strategies focus on refining a business’ processes to achieve better security and efficiency together. For hospitals, that means less time spent managing the filing system and more time focusing on delivering superior care to their patients.
Fast-paced environments, like hospitals and doctor’s offices, rely on operational efficiency to deliver critical care to their patients. Doctors and nurses simply don’t have time to go looking for misplaced paperwork or to fight with the copier. They need secure, effective solutions – document management provides exactly that. It can:
- Introduce software and apps which drive integration, helping professionals access the resources they need faster.
- Streamline storage and archives by standardizing file names, categorization, and capture methods.
- Automate document capture and conversion to ensure no important pieces of information get missed.
- Implement disaster recovery and business continuity strategies like scheduled backups to keep information secure.
3. Reduced Costs Keep Hospitals and Private Practices Viable
At the end of the day, healthcare organizations like hospitals still function like businesses. As businesses, they’re also subject to the need to remain cost-effective and to reduce operating expenses. Document management helps keep these organizations viable and competitive by reducing costs related to business processes. This might include:
- Reduced reliance on physical documents where it’s possible, minimizing the amount of printing which occurs.
- Automating laborious, time-consuming tasks like filing or data entry.
- Improving storage strategies to prevent lost or misplaced documents.
- Ensuring compliance to avoid costly fines or breaches.
- Streamlining processes to require fewer personnel or resources to complete.
- Reduce energy costs and become more sustainable
Deliver Better Care With Document Management
For healthcare organizations, document management isn’t just about doing better business – it’s also about delivering better care. Businesses in the healthcare industry leverage document management solutions to keep their processes streamlined, their data secure, and their critical information accessible to professionals when they need it. Together, these things help optimize the backend of an office so that professionals can stay focused on what matters most: delivering the highest quality care that they can.
Doing Better Business excels in optimizing business processes for healthcare organizations. Start a conversation with us today to discuss how we can help your doctors deliver better care with a stronger document management strategy.