Tons of documents go through the verification and substantiation process in the healthcare industry such as insurance cards, driver's licenses, patient charts, treatment authorization forms, etc. A document management system (DMS) enables healthcare organizations to go paperless and improve work efficiency via an electronic document workflow. But, if not appropriately leveraged, document management systems can also source frustrations. So, what are some critical elements practitioners should consider to maximize document management workflow success?
Use Barcodes for Automatic Document Tracking and Routing
Barcodes are an effective way to denote and track documents. You can scan documents with barcodes batch by batch and save the documents into different groups based on the segregation. For example, a particular patient record can be routed to the correct patient folder with a 1D barcode that stores the patient ID. You can also use barcodes to identify the person in charge of the particular patient and route the related documents accordingly. Barcodes can automate document routing processes and significantly save time.
Use E-Signature to Speed up Workflow
Printing paper forms, getting patient signatures, and then scanning records back into the system – it's an antiquated paper-based process. It's not just poor efficiency; it's also not environmentally friendly. By using e-signatures, combined with mobile access to a DMS, you can enable capturing signatures directly on a tablet. This can eliminate the need to print and re-scan documents. It can also speed up related approval processes.
Document Indexing – Use Metadata to Tag Documents
One can think of the metadata of a document as behind-the-scenes information about a file. All the associated pieces of data are stored in the DMS database. For example, patient ID, document type, doctor name, etc. Metadata can be manually entered and automatically populated from barcodes or OCR (optical character recognition) technology. With documents tagged with metadata, you can search and manage documents more easily and quickly. For instance, you can find all patients under a particular doctor you can quickly pull up this list with proper tagging. Such use of metadata can vastly speed workflow.
Use One Central Document Repository to Store All Your Data
Don't store an individual's data in separate document repositories. Instead, keep all kinds of documents in one central repository, such as health, patient, and financial documents. This way, you can access all related information and see a complete patient record at a glance.
Security Features of Document Management for HIPAA Compliance
Your document management system needs to have security features to be HIPAA compatible for preventing unauthorized interception or access to sensitive information. In addition, the data transferred over a network, whether public or internal, needs to be encrypted. So, make sure you don't bypass any security protocols and even consider layering more on top. These five features are a small opportunity to better leverage your document management systems. Implementing them might improve your healthcare document and information handling for your practice. Outside of these features, tap into your users and get their feedback too for how your document management workflow might run even smoother.
