Electronic medical records can contribute to better, faster, cheaper medical care. The technology exists to keep EMR secure and private. The first step to EMR is scanning and digitizing medical records and X-ray film.
What Are Electronic Medical Records and Why Are They Important?
An electronic medical record is a digital document used by an organization that delivers patient care, such as a hospital, a doctor’s office or a clinic. Electronic medical records are usually part of a health information system that allows storage, retrieval and manipulation of records.
Patient care organizations usually decide to switch from paper records to digital records for a number of reasons:
1. Speed and ease of access
2. Nearly immediate updates of charts and records
3. Complete records, including xray images, scans and other test information
4. Ease of consultation on difficult cases
5. Easier, faster billing processes
6. Lower cost of record storage
7. Facilitate the collection of data for disease studies and drug tests
Many doctors feel that they are able to provide better, more well-coordinated care to their patients, particularly in emergency situations, because they have immediate access to charts, medication records, test results and other vital information via their wireless devices, no matter where they are.
Are Electronic Medical Record Secure?
One of the major concerns that most patients have regarding electronic medical records is privacy and security. Financial institutions paved the way for secure transactions systems in the mid 2000’s, so the hard work of security and privacy has already been done and proven. EMR systems can make use of the policies, guidelines and monitoring systems that have been proven in the financial arena to ensure patients’ privacy in the medical arena.
With additional Federal funding being funneled into the establishment of EMR infrastructure (device, network and applications) companies in the United States will be able to provide secure EMR systems and help drive the over-haul of the United States Health System.
How Do Patient Provider Institutions Get Started in EMR?
The first stage in converting any paper medical system to EMR is to scan the archived patient records and prepare them for inclusion in the electronic medical record system. Generally, this work is done by outsourcing to a qualified medical scanning service bureau. A qualified medical scanning service bureau will meet all HIPPA guidelines for the conversion of paper files to digital files.
The service bureau should be capable of scanning:
• Patient Records
• Medical Charts
• Health Service Provider Notes
• Insurance Bills
• Explanation of Benefits (EOBs)
• Ambulance Call Reports
• Fetal Traces
• Technical Reports
In addition, for medical institutions that have archive files of X-Ray film, they should choose a scanning service bureau with experience in X-Ray film scanning. Generally speaking, anyone who offers X-Ray film scanning services should be able to:
• scan up to 14 x 17" film and recognize down to a 44mm Spot size;
• support any Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) system;
• directly support DICOM, as well as emerging standards from LizardTech offers up to 50-1 image compression in order to reduce bottle-necks during image sharing;
• provide a viewing system, technology and process that can eliminate most or all network and traffic problems when you consider a PACS system;
• provide custom applications for radiologist needs, and review / clinical conferences.
