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Planning for ICD-10 – Part Two
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012| THE STEPS TO ICD-10
In our last installment, we discussed the merits of using dbtech tools to mitigate ICD-10 report discovery. Here, we will go deeper into the project plan to analyze the benefits of chart analysis, financial contingency planning, and forms inventory. |
Signature Capture with Interactive eForms
Thursday, January 19th, 2012THE PAPERLESS OFFICE
While detractors have derailed the idea as impossible, dbtech has always chased the promise of the paperless office. We believe this progression is not only possible, but that it can be achieved by eliminating paper with technology and workflow redesigns that fit patient expectations.
Dbtech’s newest enhancements, eForms Interactive Forms and Signature Capture provide significant steps towards creating a paperless office, eliminating the expenses and inefficiencies of paper forms, while expanding your options for collecting structured data.
Until now, paper-based waivers and releases were signed by patients at registration. These forms come from a desk drawer or are printed on-demand through the eForms module. Either way, the patient still picks up a pen, signs a document, then returns it to the registrar for scanning into a document imaging platform (hopefully Rasi!).
Today, many hospitals are moving from this workflow towards ones that eliminate paper and provide an experience patients are well familiar with in other industries. Whether at the pharmacy, a local bank or a favorite automobile repair shop, consumers have grown accustomed to signing documents electronically. Many now even perceive ink-to-paper signatures as antiquated – and a sign of a technologically-stunted business.
USING INTERACTIVE eForms
When you pair a Topaz signature device with Interactive eForms and Signature Capture software, ink or wet signatures are eliminated, paper is removed and processes move smoothly.
And, the benefits do not end at registration. Throughout your facility, Interactive Forms eliminates inefficient paper forms while allowing you to leverage form data in new ways. For instance, many hospitals routinely utilize Case Managers and Financial Councilors to assist patients with financial aid through charity care programs. These programs often require multiple forms with data existing nowhere else in their information systems. With Interactive eForms, these paper forms are eliminated, inputs are validated, and form data is repurposed in XML format.
INTERACTIVE eForms & THE HOME HEALTH WORKER
When we began designing Interactive eForms, the initial goal was to address a home health workers’ need to collect data while in the field – specifically at the patient’s home. Using Rasi and eForms, we developed a workflow where interactive patient forms are emailed to homecare nurses. The nurse simply opens and completes forms at the patient’s home. Once the nurse reconnects to the internet, the form, and its data, is transmitted. This workflow modification saves days of work by eliminating the process of printing, writing and faxing forms between central offices and the homecare nurse.
Throughout the process, our development team focused on creating an interactive forms environment where data would be actionable, validated and used by any user without incremental cost. The forms had to be easy to create using a toolkit with which many IT analysts were already familiar. Thus, we selected Adobe Acrobat and PDF (the most widely-accepted and platform-agnostic file type in the healthcare industry) for creating and delivering forms.
Ask us about Interactive eForms and Signature Capture to start creating your paperless office today!
Planning for ICD-10 – Part One
Friday, January 13th, 2012By now you’re likely wrapping up 5010 efforts and well into designing a project plan for ICD-10.
In this two-part post, we’ll illustrate how dbtech Ras is addressing these industry events to help you have a profitable and worry-free 2012. read more…
Improve Your Revenue Cycle with Ras
Thursday, October 27th, 2011| 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? read more… |
In the Cloud or the Cabinet: Where Should You Store Your Data?
Friday, January 28th, 2011Business News Daily takes a look at where you should store your data. As the paper problem grows, Process Redesign is needed to simply business Workflow. Intelligent Document Management can provide an immediate return on investment.
Will there be a day when the word “document” doesn’t imply a piece of paper? Will we ever become a truly paperless society?
Probably not any time soon, experts say. There’s a lot of pulp in the world. Take a look—it’s probably got your computer surrounded.
Start-ups and small businesses would be advised to give serious thought to document management questions. More and more, American business relies on data, so companies large and small need to consider how they should store it and what they might want or need to do with that data down the road.
Failure to build a dependable data management plan can be disastrous. Up to 70 percent of businesses that lose all their data go out of business within 12 to 18 months, said Eran Farajun, an executive vice president with Toronto-based Asigra, a developer of cloud storage software. Of course, all businesses have different needs.
So what is your business doing to protect itself from a data debacle?
PAPER
The Pros: Let’s be honest. Paper is that soft but ratty flannel shirt in the closet, the one you can’t bear to donate to Goodwill (or pitch into the trash). It’s comfortable and comforting, and it provides the same experience, time and again. That is, until it becomes so damaged that the sleeves fall right off.
We like that we can find a piece of paper, we can touch it or stick it in someone’s face to say, “Yes, I did pay that bill.”
The Cons: Where to start? Paper takes up a lot of space. It tears, the ink fades. Despite our best efforts, paper sometimes disappears into that file into which we never look. And we don’t have those same search capabilities that come with electronic storage. Furthermore, sharing a paper document requires you to make a copy, or scan, and that takes more time than accessing and e-mailing.
Paper will always have its place, said Greg Park of DBTech, a document management firm in Clark, N.J. “You can’t push for technology just for technology’s sake,” he said. “It has to make sense.”
But it’s making more sense these days to get most data into a digital format.
LOCAL ELECTRONIC STORAGE: From the tiniest thumb drive to the heartiest serverThe Pros: When you have one box at your workplace containing all your stored electronic data, one thing is certain: you have control. This is true especially if a company employs robust security.
Another upside for onsite storage is cost, which continues to plummet. You can find a terabyte of storage for less than $100, unheard of a couple years ago.
The Cons: With control comes great responsibility. Data doesn’t necessarily back itself up. (Well, it can, but such processes still require human intervention.)
“Backup is like exercise,” said Asigra’s Farajun. “Everyone knows they should do it, but few do it really well.” That said, if someone in your organization has exceptional discipline and attention to detail, a server or hard drive might work.
CLOUD or OFF-SITE STORAGEThese days we hear a lot about the cloud, but perhaps not everyone knows what it means. Data stored in the cloud can be accessed via the Internet from remote locations. One of the fastest-growing examples of cloud computing is Google Docs, whereby users can create word processing, spreadsheets and other documents that they then can access through the Web.
The Pros: The cloud, when done well, is easy. As suggested above, cloud storage puts responsibilities of backup and access onto the provider. In essence, the cloud allows enterprises to attend to their core business and spend less time on the IT function.
“Be a user, not an owner,” suggests Farajun. “Capital outlays are really expensive when you’re starting out,” he said.
Cloud storage compares more closely to renting space. And cloud storage costs have plunged, just like hard drive prices. Farajun pointed out that businesses can contract for the amount of space they need in the foreseeable future. Most businesses, he explained, don’t need a terabyte of space. Cloud storage allows them to get 100 gigabytes if that’s all they need.
The Cons: Companies whose business involves sensitive data should have reservations about cloud storage. And if they go that route, they should do some homework on providers.
Farajun suggests that companies pay close attention to encryption. He encourages users to ask about how the data will be encrypted when it’s offsite and en route. And companies need to understand whether their provider will have the encryption key. For some businesses, that’s okay. For other businesses, with more sensitive data, they may not want anyone to have the key.
Park and DBTech work mainly in the health care industry. Clearly, the data privacy needs are different in that arena, which is why his clients are careful about getting into the cloud.
Whether you want your data in the cloud or in a utility closet on site, it’s most important to think about what you’ll need that information for. Then, ask lots of questions.
Please Contact Us to learn more about how RAS can help you save time, paper and money.
Information Management Strategy
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010Phil Sullivan, DBTech, Director of Marketing and Technology
Last year AIIM released an ebook entitled, “8 reasons you need a strategy for managing information – before it’s too late”. The full download can be found here. I recommend you read it because you will be surprised at how risky it is to not have a plan in place.
The reasons vary from environmental to legal. From putting in a fail-safe for lost documents to eliminating the risk of non-compliance. Did you know that 7.5 percent of all documents get lost, 3% of the remainder get misfiled.
The information management landscape is changing quickly and dramatically and the stakes of getting it wrong are rising. Now is the time to finally create and implement a strategy to treat your organization’s information as a critical business asset.
RAS enables you to completely eliminate that risk. Water damage to your file room? Not a problem because your information is stored safely online and is backed up. Filing cabinets in HR were damaged? Again, your information is stored online and is safe.
Document management enables you to eliminate paper before it is printed with electronic document capture. Your existing paper can be scanned and barcoded if needed. That is how a document imaging system eliminates your risk and puts you on a path for a true information management strategy.
Paper Data Breach Hits Four Hospitals
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Health Data Management published an article this week about a paper data breach that hit four hospitals recently.
Four community hospitals in Massachusetts and their associated pathology practices are investigating major breaches after tens of thousands of paper pathology records were found at a recycling station by a Boston Globe photographer who was dropping off his trash.
Unfortunately paper data breaches like this are far too common. Although they should be easy to avoid, that isn’t always the case. How secure is your paper? What audit procedures do you have in place to track compliance?
With RAS this process is simple. Everything that can be captured electronically is sent to RAS and stored in a secure and encrypted system. Any data requests are granted based on role based permissions. All requests are tracked so you can easily determine who viewed, printed or emailed a report. These permissions can be granted or restricted based on your organizational policies. Your information is made available instantly throughout your organization through a secure web browser.
The dumped records appear to be pathology reports from 2007 to early 2010, which include names, addresses, dates of birth, diagnoses, insurance policy numbers and Social Security numbers.
Contact Us today so we can show you how to protect your data. You can be live with RAS in under 30 days.
Ten Excuses Not To Consider Document Management
Friday, May 28th, 2010By Phil Sullivan
Last year, John Mancini published Ten Excuses Not To Consider Document Management. It is an excellent read and still holds true today. The entire article can be found here but the list also appears below.
John’s Handy-Dandy, Top-10 Excuses to Avoid a Document Management Resolution#1: If we need to, we can usually find it. We usually can find the information we need when a customer calls. Sometimes it takes a while, but once we send out an email to all staff asking for the information, it usually shows up after a bit.#2: No one will ever sue us. Who would ever want to sue us? I’m sure if push comes to shove we could find whatever we need to defend ourselves. Let’s not go looking for problems.
#3: We’ve got to pick our battles. Even if it’s true that organizations typically spend $20 in labor to file a document, $120 in labor to find a misfiled document, and $220 in labor to reproduce a lost document, it’s chump change to us.
#4: Green/schmeen. Who cares if the average document is photocopied 19 times? Not my problem. I’ve got more important things to worry about.
#5: It’s good for staff to be busy. We understand that professionals can spend up to 50 percent of their time looking for the right information. That’s what we pay them for.
#6: It’s easier to just get everyone together in person. If my staff needs to work together on a project, we find it more productive to send everybody a draft in advance and then have everyone fly in for a few days and sit together with all of the different versions and just hammer out the details. Plus everyone likes staying in hotels and having nice dinners.
#7: Our business isn’t located on a flood plain or anything. Sure, when we see all those paper documents floating around after a flood on the news, we feel bad for those people. But we’re not located in a place where disasters happen.
#8: Information security just isn’t at the top of our list. Yes, we lock the doors at night. And yes, we keep the HR files locked. And yes, we use passwords on our computers. But we need to be flexible. If people want to take information home and work on it on their home computers, that’s a good thing. We trust our employees.
#9: Change is expensive. When I need to get an invoice approved, I just put it in the right department’s mailbox at the front desk. They usually pick it up in a few days and sign it. We file it and then every few years pack up the old files and send them to off-site storage. Why spend money to automate something this simple?
#10: This information management stuff is just too squishy. Managing our financial assets is important to us, so we invested in a top-notch financial system. Managing our people is important, too, so we invested in HR systems. But information is just not as critical. And managing it seems so complicated.
If information security isn’t at the top of your list, you should call us so we can explain why it should be. If you think change has to be expensive, let us show you how simple and cost-effective it can be to implement a document management system.
RAS has been enabling people to work more efficiently for years. It is time for you to see the benefits first-hand.
Fraud Resulting From Electronic Medical Record Theft
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010By Phil Sullivan
ARMA International reported a very troubling healthcare statistic. Fraud Resulting From Electronic Medical Record Theft Doubled in 2009.
Fraud resulting from exposure of health data has risen from 3% in 2008 to 7% in 2009, a 112% increase, a recent Javelin Strategy & Research report found. There were more than 275,000 cases of medical information theft in the United States last year, which means there were an estimated 19,250 cases of fraud resulting from stolen health records in 2009.
“Information such as social security numbers, addresses, medical insurance numbers, past illnesses, and sometimes credit card numbers, can help criminals commit several types of fraud. These may include: making payments from stolen credit card numbers and ordering and reselling medical equipment by using stolen medical insurance numbers,” InformationWeek reported.
As the use of electronic medical records increase, so will incidents of related fraud. Further, James Van Dyke, president of Javelin Strategy & Research, said, “We think medical providers aren’t up to the task. They won’t have security best practices in place to match the incidents of fraud, and we think theft of personal health information is going to get worse.”
An increase of 112% in one year is very unsettling. What is you doing at your facility to protect yourself from Electronic Medical Record Theft? DB Technology offers a Red Flag solution that allows you to verify patient photos and report suspected breaches at the point of registration.
On May 19, 2010 you can attend a complimentary webinar that highlights the Red Flag solution. On June 1, 2010, the Federal Trade Commission will require all healthcare providers develop programs to protect against identity theft. At the point of registration the patient’s image can be captured, stored and compared for use in identity verification.
There is still time to put your solution in place.
Phil Sullivan is the Director of Technology and Marketing for DB Technology. He originally joined DB Technology in 1999 and is responsible for the development and execution of DB Technology’s marketing, technology and social media initiatives.
Document Scanning and Capture
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010By Phil Sullivan
Doug Miles wrote an excellent article on document scanning and capture. The original article can be found on aiim.org and also appears below. Some highlights that are worth noting:
- Only 38 percent of paper-originated records are scanned and archived electronically
- 51 percent of scanned documents are 100 percent “born digital,” i.e., come direct from a printer
- 46 percent of users report return on investment within 12 months, with two-thirds seeing returns within 18 months. These are consistent across many types of content and processes, with invoices, contracts and application forms being the most popular
— Doug Miles
The term “capture” covers the combined processes of document scanning, image correction, recognition of text, barcodes, form fields, etc. and finally, output to an appropriate format for subsequent processing or archive storage. For 20 years or more, capture has been the entry point for document store-and-retrieve systems and increasingly for forms processing, read more…