Modern document management gives hospitals greater security
One of the biggest concerns any health care provider should have – above and beyond extending excellent treatment to their patients – is their ability to keep the massive amounts of sensitive information they maintain on those people as safe as possible.
While physical files that may contain not only personally identifying information or medical data, but also payment details for certain patients, can be damaged or stolen in many ways, employing back file scanning to load all such files into modern document management systems can be a major boon for care providers and patients alike.
Many doctor's offices, hospitals, clinics and the like have long since switched over to electronic health records, but many may be using what are now legacy systems, according to Ingram Micro Advisor. To that end, platforms may not be as responsive or secure as they need to be, especially when entering new information into them, because paper-based workflows remain such a major part of the medical sector.
Getting up to date
When upgrading to modern document management services, care providers gain a number of benefits, not the least of which is the ability to avoid having to hunt down necessary files across multiple systems or in-person, the report said. That, in turn, results in more efficient operation for health care professionals, support staff and patients alike. That may be especially true for particularly busy or large care providers with multiple locations, because data can be housed securely off-site and accessed from anywhere, even using mobile devices.
Keeping up security
However, with this new accessibility comes a greater responsibility to keep patient data as safe as possible, according to Health IT Outcomes. While the vast majority of health care organizations suffer data breaches – an unavoidable fact of life in the industry these days – they nonetheless have an obligation to make sure staff understands how to properly handle all sensitive information, and monitor for any potential threats so they can react in a timely fashion.
The more health care providers can do to assess their document management options and determine the best way to modernize their current EHR platforms, the better off all involved will be as time goes on.
