For years, going paperless meant companies had to scan all their files in-house, or pay a third party to do it for them. Scanning in-house is not only costly, but disruptive to day to day business and many times can be inefficient.
While studies show outsource scanning is considerably less expensive than doing it yourself, the problem remains that many companies have old records that need to be kept but may never need to be accessed again or only a small pecentage of them will ever need to be retrieved. These would not be the records that have been scanned into a document management system for processing such as electronic workflow, ocr, data capture or several other records management solutions. The records we are speaking of are stored in multiple file cabinets or may be already boxed up. Either way, they are taking up valuble and often expensive office space that could be utilized for other purposes in the office.
Scan-on Demand service is a cost effective solution to help companies cross the bridge into a paperless environment without the need for unnecessary scanning.
You may say...Why not just store these types of records with traditional offsite storage facilities. Typically when a file is needed, it gets pulled and delivered via courier, then returned and re-filed. This process usually takes a day or two. All these processes have charges affiliated with them.
Here's how Scan-on-Demand works...
-Files are securely stored at a reduced cost from traditional storage rates.
-As needed, clients request a file or files.
-Requested files are located in a matter of minutes, scanned on the spot, and electronically sent to the client within an hour.
Who uses Scan-on-Demand services?
The Healthcare Industry is a large user for medical charts but the service is not limited to Healthcare. Other main users include Legal, Insurance and Financial markets.
As you may have guessed, DISC provides Scan-on-Demand services. If you would like to learn more, click here to request additional information or call us at 800-710-DISC.
Anticipating the change issues up front will save you time, money and user frustration in implementing any new records management solution within your organization. Understand that users are the most affected by the new system; it is going to impact them big time! You're asking them to change what they're used to; from simply dumping files on their local drives and network share drives. Managing the change is key to any successful implementation.
There needs to be a new perspective with the users – there is a proper place to store your records. Clearly, there will be new processes and you definitely need to use technology, whether it’s an ECM/ERM solution of simply copying files to a centralized archive.
Are your users prepared for change?
Defining and scoping the user community of any new ERM/CRM/ERP system is a significant task. However it is the key to understanding how best to address searchability, the building of one or more catalogs or electronic file cabinets and security models.
So, who are these users in your organization? How are you targeting them so that you understand what they're trying to get out of the ERM system?
Is there a single group of users, or multiple groups? There may be, for example, certain departments, such as marketing or sales, that lean towards the “leading edge” and are more likely to adopt new technologies and seek out more efficient processes, while executives or line workers tend to be removed from the direct actions of the ERM system, and may be more reluctant to move to systems that put them directly in control, or with more responsibility for creating, finding and managing their corporate information.
In the management of the change for your groups of users, make certain you're aware of other factors in that group that will be affected by the change. Factors such as recent downsizing, job security, etc. Be prepared to adjust your project scope to align with unique needs of each group.
If initial use of the system is going well, and suddenly use falls off… that's a very bad sign and you need to take a look at why it happened. Is it because of usability? Is it because of cultural problems? Was the initial surge only because of an intense push from management, and the “regular users” lost interest shortly after management moved on to the next quarterly goal? Is it because of technical issue or a procedural issue?
These are issues to keep in mind as you go about probing what the current state of acceptance of proposed changes is, and to keep aware of through vigilant and continuous monitoring as the ERM system grows and matures.
Regardless of the kind of change, whether technological, cultural, procedural, role-based, or any other, it must first be decided if an organization is ready to face the change and adjust to it. Change may be coming whether it’s welcome or not. Determining readiness is a big factor in the potential success of your ERM project.
Organizational change is always going to appear threatening to people as it is often linked to job security. Some enterprises freely disseminate information regarding strategy changes. Other firms are very secretive and feel that this is for senior management only. The project management team should be as open and honest with staff about change as they possibly can. Typically, people will more readily embrace the change process if clear information is available.
Of course, downsizing or drastically changing the way people work will obviously bother people. Sometimes, you have to deal with this. Disgruntled staff may try to obstruct your project and you’re going to have to manage that process.
Assess your enterprise’s readiness for change. The readiness of both the management to support the change and the affected workers to accept and adapt to the change are the most crucial factors in the success, or failure, of your project. Management may be far more ready to change than the potentially-effected workers, particularly if the idea for the proposed change is coming from management – as it typically is. However, just because you have meetings with middle or senior management who are very enthusiastic about this new project, doesn’t mean that the organization as a whole is ready to change.
Enterprise readiness does not take a huge amount of time to assess, but it is a very crucial activity. Early assessments into an ERM environment are useful diagnostics to understand maturity levels within the organization, and how work is currently accomplished. It will also give you an appreciation on how success your implementation will be.
DISC provides readiness assessments to guage your tolerance for change, and ensure successful solution acceptance.
Posted by
KC Frank on Mon, Jan 16, 2012 @ 03:03 PM
Our friends and partners at DataFile Technologies, experts in Healthcare Release of Information (ROI), have it tough. They have to keep track of all of those tricky rules that come into play when considering whether or not to release our health information. We've asked DataFile Technologies owner, Janine Akers, to help us sort through the fun. Janine, take it away....
Thanks KC. We appreciate you giving us the opportunity to provide your readers with this great content. At DataFile, we are often asked to moderate discussions about Release of Information. While there are certainly many gray areas of conversation to be enjoyed on this topic, one of the frequent questions we receive is the following:
“Can we release medical records from ‘outside’ providers in response to a request for medical records?”
The above question usually is more complex than simply answering “can we”, and leads to many scenarios for which we must determine that the extended question really is: Should we? Do we have to? Can we choose not to? Are we ALLOWED? Are we OBLIGATED?
I’ll start with the least helpful, most irritating answer to the question and expand from there: IT DEPENDS!
The answer DEPENDS on how you define your Designated Medical Record Set (DRS). Better yet, the answer DEPENDS on how your documented HIPAA policies define your DRS (Designated Record Set).
45 CFR 164.501 states a Designated Record Set is
“a group of records maintained by or for a covered entity that is:
i) the medical records and billing records about individuals maintained by or for a covered health care provider;
ii) the enrollment, payment, claims adjudication, and case or medical management record systems maintained by or for a health plan; or
iii) used, in whole or in part, by or for the covered entity to make decisions about individuals.”
If you have a special “Outside Correspondence” section in your medical record chart, and your HIPAA policy states that your organization does not use this information for any of the above (3) items, then you are NOT OBLIGATED to release this information. However, should you have a properly authorized request that would include requesting this information, for instance a specific date range, then you are ALLOWED to release this information. Furthermore, because you’ve chosen to retain the information, should you be served a properly executed court order subpoena, you would be OBLIGATED to release this information.
However, additional concerns come into play when/if the “Outside Correspondence” section is accessed and any of the information in that section is “used in whole or in part by or for the covered entity to make decision about individuals.” (iii) from the above 45 CFR 164.501. That information now needs to become part of the DRS and be moved outside this section and into a section of patient chart that is part of the DRS. We’ve seen situations where this is not understood or policed properly, especially in an EMR setting.
Often a patient will hand deliver information to you from another provider. It is advised that you determine exactly which of this information you will keep and add to your DRS and which information you will not. For the information you are not incorporating into your DRS, it is suggested that you give the information back to the patient and not retain it at all. It is not recommended that you accept the information and discard (meaning you do not add it to your DRS) without alerting the patient, because it could be assumed by the patient that you kept the information and incorporated the information for their future care.
Correspondence that you receive in response to your referrals or orders should be part of your designated medical record set and therefore you would be OBLIGATED to release with a properly executed request for medical records. We have often heard practices misinterpret their obligation to release records from other providers. In most situations the ethical and legal obligation of reconciling referrals and orders would naturally place this information in your DRS, therefore, you are OBLIGATED to release this information.
Finally, if you have information in a patient chart and you cannot locate current properly executed HIPAA compliant documentation that clearly states this information is NOT a part of your DRS, OR you cannot determine with absolute certainty that this information was NOT used in one of the (3) manners defined by 45 CFR 164.501, then you must consider it part of your DRS, which in turn ALLOWS you to release the information and furthermore OBLIGATES you to release the information.
Release of information is yet another healthcare document solution provided to you by DISC Corporation, through a partnership with DataFile Technologies. All you readers out there; feel free to jump in with comments or questions!
Happy New Year everyone! As we prepare for 2012, we add goals to our lists. Invariably, some of the goals are attained and others aren't. Is records management finally at the top of your list? Let's talk about it a bit.
The basic principles of records management were established when all records were mostly generated and stored on paper. A recent AIIM survey revealed that most organizations still follow those principles in their day-to-day practice of managing paper and electronic records.
Today’s technologies have evolved to the point that paper records and electronic records can be managed in the same environment, Enterprise Content Management (ECM). Enterprise Content Management is defined as “the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists.” The business drivers for implementing an ECM solution are accessibility, knowledge sharing and regulatory compliance.
How are you doing managing the content within your organization? A recent research paper published by AIIM recently indicates the answer is…not so good! In this report, AIIM compared the adoption and success of traditional approaches, the strategies being considered to cope with current and future challenges, and the trend of investments in ECM solutions.
Key Findings:
- The volume of paper records is finally decreasing. Paper records are decreasing in 41% of organizations, compared to 31% where it is still increasing. This is the first time AIIM has measured a net decrease across all sizes of organizations.
- Access to records across the enterprise is still poor: 28% of respondents consider the accessibility of records to employees across their business to be poor or very poor. Only 4% consider it to be excellent – for example, being able to search an enterprise records system for records from many sources.
- The goal of an enterprise-wide ERM system is still popular but is proving hard to achieve: A single enterprise records management model underlying all content systems is the goal for 58% of respondents. Only 9% have achieved this, although a further 12% have RM integration across organizational units or subsidiaries. 28% have no RM systems.
- Support is needed at the highest level: Lack of commitment at board-level or C-level is given as the biggest reason for non-adoption of ERM systems, and the difficulty of securing agreement across departments is also frequently cited.
- Key policies are not in place: Only 16% of organizations have a documented and effective information management strategy. A further 15% have such a policy but it is largely unreferenced. Less than half of even the largest organizations have a risk management plan that includes records management.
- Reduced storage cost joins compliance as the biggest driver: Statutory and industry compliance combine to be the strongest drivers, ahead of reduced storage costs. Sharing and exploiting knowledge comes next.
- Legal costs could be reduced by a quarter. Most respondents feel that audit costs, legal costs, court costs, fines and damages could be reduced by 25% with best practice records management.
- Poor records practice can severely harm your reputation: 28% have had their records management and security practices criticized or exposed by an auditor in the last three years. 6% have been criticized by a regulator, 5% by lawyers and 4% (1 in 25) in the press.
- Dealing with emails and agreeing taxonomies are still front of mind: Managing emails as records and agreeing corporate classification systems are the biggest current issues. Social, mobile and cloud are the least pressing.
- Search and automated classification are taking some of the heavy-lifting: Many organizations (37%) are focusing on search to improve e-discovery and knowledge-sharing. Others (28%) are making increasing use of automated classification.
- Resources for RM are being increased: A net 36% of organizations are planning increased RM budgets (50% increasing, 14% reducing) and a net 20% are adding dedicated staff resource.
- Spending on system software is set for biggest increase: Spending intentions for dedicated RM systems, RM modules for ECM, e-discovery tools, and email management are high, whereas spend on outsourcing for both physical and electronic records is set to fall.
Please contact us for a complete copy of this research paper, or other industry information on this topic.
DISC Corporation has more than five decades of hands-on experience in eliminating both paper and paper-based processes. We solve document and content management problems. Many of our earliest solutions are still in use at our client sites, and DISC continues to help customers refine their business content strategies as well as understand the hidden effects that mismanagement of paper has on its business. By integrating document imaging and data capture into its overall content management strategy, DISC has helped countless clients in a wide variety of industries use document imaging to increase productivity, reduce costs and become more efficient.
The term "Data Capture" covers the combined processes of document preparation, scanning, data extraction or OCR, and output to an appropriate format for subsequent processing or archival storage.
For 20 years or more, capture has been the entry point for document store-and-retrieve systems and increasingly, for Business Process Management (BPM), where data extraction from the document is used to feed a downstream business process such as medical EOB's, invoice approval, or claims management.
During this time, an increasing number of organizations transitioned from basic scanning of paper documents for archive to the more sophisticated upfront data capture of multi-format content as input to business processes. Strong ROI's from these scanning and data capture projects have been realized that include process improvement, workforce reduction and increased profits.
When BPM takes on broader and deeper aspects in the sense of integration with other enterprise applications such as populating transactional databases, integrating clerical processes such as customer service and claims processing, while providing a single point of interface for all users, significant achievements in efficiency and productivity are also realized.
Unfortunately, too many organizations lack awareness of the possibilities of BPM. Difficulties in integration with other systems and time taken to map processes are frequently cited as the biggest technical obstacles to implementing a capture and BPM project. Outsourcing these capabilities to a qualified solution/services partner can overcome this resistance and satisfy a growing, recession-era demand to streamline costs through operations and labor consolidation. Recent research from AIIM validates these points, providing the below list of business drivers when document and records management are considered:
- Improve efficiency
- Optimize business processes
- Compliance
- Reduce costs
- Mitigate risk
- Enable collaboration
- Improve customer service
- Faster turnaround/improved response
- Competitive advantage
The primary driver for a Business Process Management (BPM) investment continues to be cost reduction and improved business process. BPM is a business management process that might utilize a number of dedicated labor, processes and software tools to achieve a desire result. For example, a third of organizations automatically capture data within documents for routing or auto-indexing, although less that 25% are currently utilizing captured and/or OCR data as part of the business process itself.
DISC has more than five decades of hands-on experience in eliminating both paper and paper-based processes. We solve document management problems. Many of our earliest document solutions are still in use at our client sites, and DISC continues to help customers refine their business imaging strategies as well as understand the hidden effects that paper has on its business. By integrating document imaging and data capture into its overall document management strategy, DISC has helped countless clients in a wide variety of industries use document imaging to increase productivity, reduce costs and become more efficient.
Posted by
Pat Karpen on Mon, Dec 12, 2011 @ 04:05 PM
The Department of Health and Human Services officially announced the extension of the Stage 2 Meaningful Use start date from 2013 to 2014. I can imagine loud sighs of relief from both providers and vendors alike as this decision was officially announced.
The following statement from the HHS explains their decision. “Input from the vendor community and the provider community makes clear that the current schedule for compliance with stage 2 meaningful use objectives in 2013 poses a nearly insurmountable timing challenge for those who attest to meaningful use in 2011. With the anticipated release of the final rule for stage 2 in June, 2012, the current timetable would require EHR vendors to design, develop, and release new functionality, and for eligible hospitals to upgrade, implement and begin using the new functionality by the beginning of the reporting year in October of 2012.
Although this announcement is welcome news within the healthcare industry there is still a lot of work to do. A recent CDC survey indicates only a third of physicians have adopted EMR so far. Various reports indicate that many more plan to implement EMR in the near future. Deadlines and critical future decisions still loom. Good news….help is out there. DISC Corporation is here to help healthcare providers deal with their information needs and let them focus on what they do best….provide healthcare!
It's that time of year again here at DISC when we pull up our inventory of thousands of rolls of microfilm and contact our customers who store film with us for archival purposes.
While these customers were at the forefront years ago in attempting to become paperless offices by filming paper documents as a means of creating a document management program, most have advanced on to scanning their documents. This leads to all kinds of possibilities for their records management system such as data capture, document classification, electronic workflow, etc...
But what about all that microfilm still being archived?
There are basically two options:
-Continue to store it.
-Conversion of the film to electronic images.
Microfilm conversion is the digital scanning of the film to be converted into electronic documents compatible with modern techology.
Conversion of the film seems to be the preferred choice these days, especially if the film contains documents that need to be archived and retrieved for long periods of time like human resource documents, students records or medical charts to name a few.
Some of the reasons to go digital with your microfilm library archives are:
- Conversion costs are at an all time low
- Technology advancements have improved conversion quality
- Microfilm deteriorates over time if not stored optimally. Don't risk losing valuable records forever.
- Improve operational efficiencies by saving time accessing, loading and viewing essential documents.
- The cost of maintaining, repairing or replacing old microfilm equipment is often equal to or greater than the cost of digital conversion
- Conversion saves the physical space needed to store the microfilm
Would you like to learn more about film conversion? If so, click here to have us provide you a sample scan of your microfilm.
While paper invoices are still king, e-invoicing continues to make gains in business process improvement. Want to know more?
Electronic invoicing continue to make strong gains in Accounts Payable business process automation. Although paper is still king, almost one-fourth of organizations currently receive some invoices electronically, with even more planning to implement e-invoicing systems during the next few years.
According The Accounts Payable Network’s Automation Benchmark Survey 2011 preliminary results, 24 percent of participants stated that they have implemented electronic invoicing. In a 2009 survey, just 10 percent had implemented the technology. The percentage of organizations receiving invoices electronically more than doubled in two years.
Once an organization implements e-invoicing, rolling it out to all of their vendors is challenging because sellers typically have to change their billing practices. As a result, buyers tend to focus their attention on enrolling their highest-volume suppliers first.
This is evident in the survey results. Of organizations that implemented e-invoicing, more than 60 percent have enrolled 20 percent or less of their vendors. However, a quarter of them have also enrolled more than 50 percent.
Despite the growth of e-invoicing, paper still represents the majority of most organizations’ invoice volume. According to the survey results, 75 percent of participants stated that most of their invoices arrive on paper. The second most common receipt method was PDF. Just 5 percent of organizations receive the majority of their invoices electronically.
e-Invoicing has nowhere to go but up, and the survey results indicate that is where it is heading. Nearly 20 percent of survey participants said they plan to implement electronic invoicing within the next two to three years.
The full survey results include a breakdown of common drivers and hurdles to automation, an analysis of how e-invoicing adoption differs by organization size, and a discussion of how automation impacts invoices processed per FTE. All organizations that participated in the survey will receive a copy of the results soon.
In addition, all members of The Accounts Payable Network have full access to the results on TAPN, as well as the results to all previous benchmark studies.
Contact DISC if interested in any of these benchmark survey results.
Posted by
KC Frank on Fri, Nov 18, 2011 @ 01:42 PM
Happy Friday to all. We’re deferring to our friends at ReadSoft for our first guest post on DISCUSS! DISC Corporation is a ReadSoft partner, providing our clients the industry-leading Data Capture and OCR technology, as well as Document Classification solutions. Readsoft Kelly Spear, ReadSoft Partner Marketing Coordinator – take it away!
All too often, the benefits of data capture & AP automation solutions are summed up as: decreased errors & processing time coupled with increased control & visibility. But what about the impact these transformations make on your AP processes’ environmental footprint? With paper no longer heavily relied upon throughout the invoice process, it’s clear that more trees are spared with CO2 emissions concurrently reduced as well.
ReadSoft solutions alone process 270 million invoices each year, saving 1.4 billion paper copies. Assuming that regular printer paper is used, 1.4 billion pages saved each year weigh 6000-7000 tons. According to the European organization for the paper industry, CEPI, each ton of paper product uses 0.34 tons of CO2. Consequently, ReadSoft customers help reduce CO2 emissions by more than 2000 tons per year. If you take into account the solution’s ability to utilize e-invoicing, then an additional 700 million paper copies are saved.
What’s interesting is how companies investing in AP automation have taken this a step further by aligning their automation goals with their environmental efforts. Green Mountain Power, a Vermont-based electric utility company, is one such company. In order to continue its commitment to environmental sustainability, Green Mountain Power wanted an accounts payable solution that provided a more electronic procedure to reduce its paper dependency across seven locations. Invoices were often lost in inter-company mail, but through ReadSoft’s invoice automation software, the company enjoys more control & visibility of its entire accounts payable process while saving trees and helping reduce CO2 emissions.
Time Warner Cable is another automation veteran that has leveraged automation to further its environmental and AP efficiency goals. The use of automatic data capture jumpstarted the company’s shift to electronic reporting and receipts. Time Warner Cable took its automation efforts to the next level by leveraging automation to track utility charges at their facilities and front-ends by capturing KwH hours, or the electricity charges for using 1,000 watts of electricity for one hour, without any human intervention.
Interested in hearing about more of these companies’ automation experiences firsthand? Visit ReadSoft’s reference center here.
Posted by
KC Frank on Thu, Nov 10, 2011 @ 09:47 AM
Many times we meet with organizations who are very excited about improving their document and content management situations. We hear things like:
"We're running out of storage space"
"It's time consuming looking up paper documents"
"How do we get to a paperless state?"
"We're nervous about not having backups of our critical documents"
After hearing comments like this, we pull out our trusty marketing brochures and video demonstrations on document management software, OCR, scanning services, ap automation and more. Our potential clients are excited about the services and technology.
As exciting as this may be, it still boils down to something folks in Missouri (DISC Corporation's home state) like to say, Show Me! That is, Show ME how this saves us money! Our solutions improve business. Our solutions ease our clients' minds. Our solutions make processes more efficient. But with all of these benefits, clients still say “Show Me the Cost Savings!”
Okay, we can! If you haven't seen it already, take a look at our Document Management Savings Calculator on our website. This calculator will walk you through determining HOW MUCH MONEY you're spending on your paper-based document management system. It's very easy to use and, by answering just a few questions, you'll see what your true costs are. Take a shot at it by clicking the image below. Don't be shy! If you find this interesting, feel free to contact us so we can walk you through a more thorough cost comparison and ROI on a document management solution. And please, let us know in the comments section how much money you could save!
