SIMPLICITY Dbtech has always given our customers the tools needed to simplify burdensome workflows and save time and money. This has been our goal since the early 90’s when we initially developed Ras to help customers reduce paper expenses and manual distribution methods. Ras has changed significantly from those early days, but our core principles have never changed; easy-to-use solutions that are simple to manage and present information to users in the best possible way. Administrative simplification and intuitive user interfaces have led dbtech to develop the Ras API.

TRANSPARENCY

Customers expect enterprise content in Ras be accessible to users and platforms with the least amount of manual steps possible. The problem is that many applications do not have the ability to store images or to import them from foreign platforms. The other problem is that many platforms may come delivered with their own document management solution, leaving your IT staff with three or more different platforms to support.

Your users want access to the insurance card, driver’s license and other documents without leaving the screens they are currently viewing.

The Ras API enables transparency by integrating Ras functionality into all of your existing platforms. Here is an illustration. A user may spend ninety percent of their day working accounts in your financial application, but for 5 percent of the day they need access to supporting documents like a scanned waiver, insurance card or payer verification document.

Until now, customers would login to Ras, find the patient account and open the document needed.

Ras API

The Ras Application Programming Interface, or Ras API, allows for improved workflows. While a user works a patient account in your primary financial application, they launch the Ras API with a singular click of a button. The Ras API is designed to know which patient you are viewing and which documents are needed based on the screen from which it is launched. This means that needed documents are just a click away with no navigating, no searching and no additional logins and passwords.

Users feel like the images are stored directly in their applications.

PERSISTENCE

Ras API will work with Siemens, Meditech, McKesson, Cerner, EPIC, NextGen and Keane. The fact is that the Ras API will work with ANY and ALL commercial applications as well as home-grown applications and websites.

	Will the Ras API to work with all EHRs to deliver scanned registration documents?
	Will it work with HR systems to delivery employee reviews?
	Will it deliver clinical documents to your web-based physician portal?

The examples of how the Ras API can simplify and extend your existing platforms are infinite.
Just give us a call to find out how the Ras API can simplify life for you and your users.

Or, download a PDF and learn more about the Ras API.

The clock is ticking down to January 1, 2012, and IT project managers are struggling with HIPAA X12 5010 compliance.  Some HIT vendors are not ready, many payers are transmitting in non-compliant versions and claims scrubbers are choking on translations between vendors, payers and varying transaction set standards. So why is this so important? Adhering to the X12 EDI 5010 requirements allows for larger field size of ICD-10-CM as well as other improvements, and is a critical preliminary step towards achieving success on October 1, 2013 when ICD-10 becomes the standard for documenting diagnoses and procedures.  This is the largest and most enterprise encompassing healthcare projects in over twenty years.

Ras X12 customers gain tremendous benefits by capturing, converting and automating tasks related to payment and remittance transaction sets.  For instance, many providers have reported problems with insurance payers transmitting non-standard transaction sets.  With the Ras X12 module and 5010 support, customers will be able to test their payers against specification standards. 

It is common for healthcare providers to create multiple versions of their 837/5010 EDI Health Care Claim Transactions, one directly from their billing systems, another from their billing scrubber and perhaps a third from their clearinghouses.  The edits between these versions can become confusing when trying to QA payer reported errors.  Ras customers with X12/5010 can easily track multiple versions of their EDI 837 files prior to transmittal.  These transaction sets are maintained in their original X12 format as well as a human-readable format.  Keep everything you need in Ras for as long as you need without fear of over-utilizing disk space on your network or within your claims scrubber application.

It’s very simple.  Place an X12 837 or 835 Health Care Claim Payment/Advice Transaction (EOB) into a Ras Capture Source.  You can also have Ras automatically retrieve transactions directly from your payer’s FTP sites when you use the Ras FTP module. 

Don’t worry about which system created these transactions.  Ras X12/5010 works with every HIT vendor and every payer.  

Once Ras recognizes the data it parses it into a readable format customized to your specifications.  In fact, many Ras customers have opted to convert 837 transactions into UB04 formats.  This is extremely useful to patient account billing personnel and is an integral component to your electronic patient record.  Ras customers can use their 835 data to populate decision support applications for long-term payer analysis.  This is critical intelligence your organization needs to determine denial trends between various payers and lines of care. 

Now that you have a readable format of your X12 EDI files in Ras, you can automate a number of manual processes.  Automate the extraction of 835 denials into an excel spreadsheet and have Ras email the spreadsheet to your billing supervisor.  Ras can even automate the printing of your 837 transaction as UB04 paper bill forms. 

So keep it easy and keep it in Ras.

As hospitals strive to achieve Meaningful Use of EHRs under the HITECH act, they find certified systems lack the ability to eliminate all paper-centric processes. EHR’s will improve healthcare over time, but greater efficiencies, improved processes and a paper-free environment will take years to achieve.

Paper will be the medium of choice for many workflows for the foreseeable future, and Document management can accelerate these processes and provide insight into deficiencies. As hospitals consider Document Management they must expand their focus beyond the management of patient processes. This myopic patient-centric view of document management leaves hospitals struggling to accommodate Administrative and Financial workflows. Hospitals implementing their HIT Vendor’s scanning and archiving solution may need to purchase another solution to accommodate vendor invoices, employment applications and licensing certifications.

Most hospitals do not consider enterprise needs as they access Document Management. This is especially true for hospitals replacing defunct platforms like VALCO. These hospitals seek a VALCO functional equivalent and are failing to take advantage of this opportunity to expand Document Management to the enterprise. If you are a VALCO customer you can call DBTech and we will transfer your existing VALCO data with our partner IATRIC Systems. Your new RAS system will manage invoice tracking, capital requests and any other paper-centric process within your hospital.

For hospitals considering the purchase of their HIT vendor’s scanning and archiving solution, be sure they are not just focusing on patient processes. For instance, many Meditech hospitals will claim their platform will manage AP, HR and other internal processes, but there are no reported clients using Scan & Archive beyond patient needs.

Whether you are looking for a new Document Management platform, or replacing VALCO, call DBTech and let us demonstrate a true Enterprise-wide Document Management solution.

SharePoint is a popular collaboration tool to share documents between users and partners.  Collaboration is the number one reason for implementing SharePoint according to a recent AIIM Strategies and Experiences White-Paper¹. 

SharePoint users push and tag documents with meta-data into SharePoint Team Sites.  Team Sites act as the functional equivalent to RAS Folders.

Similarities between SharePoint and RAS end here, as a majority of SharePoint implementations have required third-party tools and consultants to reach functional levels of RAS. 

A major SharePoint shortcoming is workflow.  By workflow we mean the process of Document Routing, Document Approvals, Life-Cycle and Intelligent Document Management. 

Document Routing has been a RAS mainstay since 1993, and includes tools to drive enterprise content, notify staff of new content and deliver data to critical workflows.  RAS Workflow Automations push documents and alerts to users through email, smart phones and secured URL’s.  Document data can be extracted and integrated with any third-party application.  For instance, Patient Accounting users can scan Explanation of Benefits into RAS and interface payment data to receivable applications. 

Document Approvals are a new RAS feature and permit sophisticated user-driven workflows. RAS Customers can establish multi-layer approvals for Vendor Invoices, Employment Applications and Capital Requests.  In the coming months DBTech will announce an enhancement to RASi eForms that will drive online forms with sophisticated data-entry rules and integration with signature devices. 

Life-Cycle is critical to Document Governance, and is a significant downside to SharePoint.  RAS Customers have controlled Document Life-Cycle for well over 17 years, and can be assured that content is eliminated with minimal administrative intervention.  Document Life-Cycle is extremely important for those organizations that must adhere to SOX compliance.

Intelligent Document Management (IDM) is a critical component to any serious Enterprise Content Management (ECM) implementation.  IDM automates meta-data collection from foreign systems, applications and documents without end-user intervention.  RAS Customers have enjoyed this feature for years.  With IDM Face-sheets captured by RAS are analyzed for admitting physician, insurance and service to drive business processes, distribution and Workflows. 

Please give DBTech a call if you are considering a SharePoint implementation.  Our business is Enterprise Content Management and we can help you save significant funds by removing expensive third-party SharePoint gap solutions.

Reference

1. http://www.aiim.org/sharepoint/paper/sharepoint-industry-watch-report

By Greg Park

There was a very interesting article in the WSJ earlier this year.

It is impossible to secure all of your patient information.

That is the bottom line.  All of your security measures, encryption securing data both at rest and in motion, and all role-based access to your data will not protect you from authorized users using data in unauthorized ways.

That being said, you still have to do everything you can to secure your data.  You must apply the best security that is accessible to you.  In that light I want to share with you best-practices on securing patient data in RAS and RASi.

Role-based access

Ensure RAS and RASi users see only documents required to complete their jobs.   If your director of surgery uses RASi, make sure he or she only sees patients with a hospital service of surgery.  Make sure that patient accounting users can’t see clinical reports.  Lock down the ability to print copy or email to only necessary users, and then make sure you run detailed audit reports on those users.

Audit Files

RAS and RASi are chock-full of audit reports that can be scheduled and run on-demand.  Reports can be run to analyze when PHI has been emailed, printed, copied or viewed.  Make sure you look at this information and find out when PHI is replicated outside of your RAS or RASi environment.

Application Timeouts

Global time-outs can be established for RAS and RASi.  Make sure you use this so that when user leave their screens another user won’t be able to snoop their session.

Encrypt Emails

Emails can be setup as an automated workflow or launched interactively by authorized RAS and RASi Users.  Assure that RAS Auto-Emails containing PHI are encrypted, and then make sure that emailing and printing are your best options.  Sometimes forcing outside recipients to view documents via RAS or RASi WEB are the best option, because once you print it or email it, you have abdicated control.

Hide PHI

There are ways that you can de-identify PHI in RAS reports using Monarch.  Email gpark@dbtech.com if you want more information on how to do this.

These are simple steps that can go a long way towards protecting your PHI, but nothing beats a well informed user.  Best practices entail assuring authorized users understand the implications of revealing PHI, and making sure they understand that you take their guardianship of this data seriously.