Top 6 Benefits of a Healthcare Document Management System
Top 6 Benefits of a Healthcare Document Management System
Managing hospital document information from several sources, whether electronic or paper, is an essential component of any successfully run healthcare organization. A document management system that captures, stores, and retrieves both paper and electronic documents can prove immediately beneficial to the operations of your healthcare system. A system that can also double as a policy management approval and review system can save your organization a great deal of time during a survey or audit too.
1-Storage Space: How much physical space do your documents occupy? From file cabinets to boxes, to storage bins, the amount of space your documents take up can quickly add up. How could that space be better utilized? Having a software-based document management solution can free up this space and those documents that need to be kept as hard copies can easily be stored in a less expensive offsite warehouse or vault.
2-Security: Without a document management system the security of your documents, especially those containing information such as HIPAA sensitive data, can often put you at risk. By utilizing a document management system you’ll have better control over who has access to and when they have access to, these documents. Access can be controlled at the folder level for various departments and individuals. In addition – by having a document management system, you’ll have an electronic record of when documents are accessed and how they have been modified through system messages and automated alerts.
3-Compliance: The last thing any healthcare organization wants to face are fines, revoked licenses or liability for not following compliance requirements in the handling of their documents. HIPAA compliance requirements can be quite complex and complicated with their strict security and privacy guidelines. A document management system reduces the risk of non-compliance with automated features such as recording retention schedules. Having this system in place makes it easier to classify and store your documents. Additionally, using your system for policy management can help you distribute policies for readership attestation to make sure your employees are aware of important document updates and healthcare protocols so they can administer standardized care to patients.
4-Access: When your organization’s documents are kept in various locations it can be quite complicated and very time consuming to retrieve a document when needed, as well as expensive. How much time is spent on labor filing documents? Losing documents? Searching for documents? Reproducing lost documents? With a document management system, you can save lost time and resources through features such as retrieving files by a word or phrase, full-text search, indexing documents by categories, accessing documents remotely and integrating your document management system with other business applications such as your healthcare Intranet or electronic medical health records system.
5-Avoid Disaster: A document management system includes a data backup and a disaster recovery plan. With a digital archiving system in place, your documents will be protected from a fire, flood, or other natural disasters. In addition, because a document management system centrally stores your documents, you’ll avoid any risk associated with documents being lost, misplaced, or misfiled.
6-Use for Policy Management Approvals and Workflow: Most document management systems allow you to store documents and use the system for document workflow, reviews, revisions, and approvals. In a healthcare setting, there are many policies that need updating annually due to regulatory updates. Using a document management system to organize this approval and review workflow can eliminate errors and the automation can reduce errors in file keeping or editing.
To learn more about the HospitalPORTAL Document Management and Policy Manager System, click here. If you’d like to see a demo of our system, please schedule that here. Thank you for your interest in our products. Looking forward to helping you with your document management in the future.