From patient registration forms to prescriptions, medical records, and doctor notes, many workflows within healthcare organizations still require paper documentation. Unfortunately, the burden of paper-based processes and manual data entry leads to numerous tedious tasks for medical staff and a high risk of errors in medical records. Paperwork left on desks and fax machines also increases security concerns and the potential of PHI becoming compromised.
Today, 87% of providers should not be leveraging paper in healthcare. The tools and technology exist to eliminate the burden of manual data entry and paper in healthcare. The standards exist to allow for true interoperability in healthcare. Digital fax solutions exist to securely transmit documents via email as well as messaging platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Slack.
Where healthcare organizations, payers, and providers need to focus their future efforts in terms of truly implementing interoperability is in the secure exchange network that can transform patient records from one standard to another and perform data extraction so the recipient gets what they need, when they need it, and in a format that their EHRs can readily ingest and integrate.
A secure exchange network that provides data extraction can quickly transform unstructured documents such as PDFs and paper-based forms into structured, searchable data that is ready to be integrated into EHRs and applications. Extracted data can then be mapped to third-party systems, allowing tasks such as indexing patient records, scheduling, and referrals to be automated. As a result, clinicians can spend less time manually entering and searching for information and more time on care initiatives to improve patient health outcomes.
Ben Manning, Director of Product Management at etherFAX, discussed how to eliminate the burden of paper and manual data entry in Healthcare Business Today. Read his article here.