Environment and Health

Elements Affecting the Health Care Marketplace By: Steve Hebel

Any person that has ever been in a doctor’s office or hospital can plainly see that it is a really paper intensive environment as well as a quite labor intensive environment from a document prospective.  Listed are some present problems pertaining to heath care records management.

1)      Presently 31 cents of every single dollar in health care is spent on administrative costs.

2)      It is simple to lose or misplace paper files it’s estimated that doctors see patients with incomplete information 40% of the time

three)      It is tremendously time consuming to maintain paper documents

4)      Currently over 90% of patient data is still stored on paper

Massive changes are on the horizon throughout the medical field.  Changes that will affect everyone from hospitals to pharmacies to dentists to Insurance providers and everyone in between.

Currently the health care industry is regulated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).  This act states that patients have the correct to their files for up to 6 years along with this they also have the correct to know who has had access to their records and why they looked at the records.

In addition to this former Senator Edward Kennedy has introduced a new law which is being referred to as the Health Care High quality Modernization, Cost Reduction and High quality Improvement Act.   If this law is approved it will require all U.S patient records to be kept in an electronic format and this will have to be accomplished by December 31, 2010. Time is running out as we speak.

So, you think it’s just a copier or just a printer?

The copier and printer industry has implemented really particular devices and software programs,which are designed for use in the health care sector.  Here is a list of what these machines are currently being employed for:

1)      Information Storage by leveraging the web

2)      Quickly access to records, retrieval and distribution of patient information

3)      Control and track patient privacy

4)      To produce accurate audit trails

5)       To support accelerate the company process

Return on investment? Yes, please!

1)      Cut cost on printing and copying by going paperless

2)      Minimize physical storage space and cost

three)      Minimize staff requirements or have far better appropriation of time and assets

4)      Comply with green initiatives

With the use of appropriate technologies in your printing and copying environment you would be able to manage patient details efficiently, ensure privacy as well as physical protection of records.