Medical records which are printed on old paper based documents are scanned into the system and saved to files such as TIFF and PDF format. The computerized files play an important role; because, no more will you have to go through large piles of documents to find the medical data. The navigation of the computerized records is aided through data entry of Meta information including dates and demographic information. It is also easy to convert the PDF files into searchable format with an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program It is easy to find the required clinical data and medical charts. Now, PDF files can be also be searched based on text and dates which will make it easier to navigate the page and find other information. Any texts in PDF files can be linked to another page and this way you create PDF libraries which are very easily searchable.

Imaging the documents are much efficient than the old style medical records which are becoming outdated. With imaging technology you can access the files and records faster than before if you scan the records of your most active patients first. With large number of records, it may take few months to a year to scan all the records. In this case, the overall cost is always involved. In order to save costs, the scanning work can be outsourced. While you are outsourcing the work, the provider company should adhere to HIPPA privacy requirements.

HIPAA HITECH Compliance
The files and reports always belong to the creator and custodian of the record under data protection legislation. No matter who created or changed the files and records of patients, they are the property of medical facility that originally prepared them. Such files may include X-rays, CT, PET, MRI, Ultrasound and all types of reports. The patient can always ask for original documentation according to HIPAA privacy rules. The hardware, software and media which are used in store information is managed by EMR software which is an integrated system for creating backup data, protecting data, making copies and data migration which may be required when there is a case of media degradation.

Older record incorporation

The old record should always be incorporated into patient’s record. This will let to attain easier accessibility, create efficiency, maintain patient safety and reduce costs promised by EMR. Obviously, the cost involved in the medical record scanning is expensive and very time consuming. So, it is important to take steps for reducing the costs of scanning medical records. There should be exact scan of the content and one should be very careful doing so because most of the records involve handwritten reports from different healthcare professionals over the period of patient’s treatments. The final materials can exist in any numbers. They may be available in different forms of formats, sizes, qualities and media types. Furthermore, the original healthcare records after quality control should be destroyed completely and confidentially at a document shredding company.