A Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) was growing, which led to an influx of records that needed quick and accurate indexing in patients’ charts. The FQHC’s internal team was filing the faxes and scans, but the sheer amount of time it took to do so meant less time spent on what matters most: patient care.
This particular FQHC was a ScanSTAT client, so it wasn’t a far leap for the Vice President of Operations to shift inbound document management responsibilities from the clinical team’s shoulders to ScanSTAT. While a process, such as filing lab results, diagnostic imaging reports and more, is seemingly simple, it can result in endless complications with filing getting backlogged and documents being filed in the wrong places. All of which leads to patient dissatisfaction.
ScanSTAT made Inbound Document Management for this FQHC easier with a straightforward approach and same-day turnaround time. By managing productivity and efficiency, their inbound document management process supports their patient and provider experience.
What can other hospitals, health care systems and medical practices expect when they outsource inbound document management?
An Unrivaled Accuracy Rate
With ScanSTAT managing your inbound document management, you have a dedicated team solely focused on one task: moving documents to patient files. We develop a precise statement of work and customize our workflows and internal audit procedures for unparalleled accuracy by thoroughly:
- Reviewing all incoming document types
- Checking every page of the document to verify each one is for the correct patient
- Separating reports into individual files if necessary
- Selecting the correct chart and checking for multiple identifiers
- Choosing the right folder in a patient’s chart based on the type of document
A Consistent Flow of Documents Filed and Entered into your EHR
ScanSTAT’s expert remote staff adheres to an agreed upon turnaround time, usually same day or customized to your requirements, ensuring your providers have the complete charts they need to properly deliver patient care. Equally as important for FQHCs is that as quality of care becomes tied with incentive payments, not having information in your charts can affect your patient rating and reimbursement.
If you’re experiencing a backlog in document filing, ScanSTAT not only eliminates the backlog quickly, but then maintains a consistent flow to avoid interruptions in patient care and reimbursement, as well as improve patient ratings.
Time-Saving Standardization, Which Builds Familiarity
Humans are creatures of habit. Regardless of how documents are received from your fax and scanning inboxes, rest assured ScanSTAT’s remote experts enter them into your patients’ charts the same way, every time, all day long. Doing so saves providers time looking for the information they need by building familiarity with where to find the data for which they’re looking, leaving more time to devote to patients.
This level of standardization is helpful especially for health systems and large hospitals with multiple locations. The staff at different locations may have unique preferences on how they want something filed. ScanSTAT can accommodate these differences with ease while still providing the benefit of some degree of standardization across all locations.
A Transfer of Liability
ScanSTAT’s HIPAA-certified remote staff connects securely to your EHR system to process your documents according to the statement of work that is aligned to your operations and processes. With ScanSTAT in charge of your inbound document management, you transfer the compliance burden to us, relying on our compliance team to handle HIPAA liability issues.
A Measurable Cost Savings
Like the FQHC noted above, outsourcing inbound document management solves for taking the burden off your staff’s shoulders, allowing them more time to focus on patient care. Also, it can resolve any accumulated backlog due to practice growth, hospital expansions, employee attrition and such. Ultimately, outsourcing inbound document management streamlines the costs of hiring, training, retraining when regulations change, and managing medical records or office staff – not to mention offsetting the costs of compliance risk or violations. You also save budget allocated previously to paying your staff overtime needed to keep up with the daily workflow and catch up any backlog.
By trusting ScanSTAT to file inbound medical record documents, you gain a well-trained, remote team with built-in staff redundancies, internal audit layers and compliance resources and minimize the costs associated with keeping all operations in house.
The Caveat: Automation isn’t a Substitute for Hands-On Experience
Automation is phenomenal in some areas of incoming document management; however, it can lead to more work for you and your team in terms of reading the files. Our remote team has diverse experience in several EMRs, including Cerner, eClinicalWorks, Epic, NextGen® and Athena. Rest assured, our team has willingness and ability to quickly learn your EMR of choice.
ScanSTAT Makes Inbound Document Management Easier for Everyone
ScanSTAT makes it easier for hospitals, healthcare systems, and medical practices to manage health information. Your inbound document management can be “set it and forget it” with ScanSTAT. Our implementation process is well-defined and streamlined, and our remote team can be set up in just a few weeks.