Towards a Paperless Medical Practice
Paper-based medical records, and all the resources they require, will soon be relegated to the past for Moreton Eye Group, a multi-site eye health practice.
“Files can be 10 centimetres thick,” says Lesley Henderson, Moreton Eye Group’s Clinical Manager. “And the physical elements – the folder, the clip, the paper and the identification stickers – are surprisingly expensive.”
With an estimated 15,000 medical records files, a number that increases every week, that’s a lot of storage space.
Moreton Eye Group are undertaking a clear-sighted medical records digitisation project as a major step towards their ultimate ambition of operating as a paperless practice. The aim is simple: “We plan to turn our paper charts into electronic charts,” says Henderson.
Would your workplace blossom under the weight of less paper? Read on to hear more.
The positive changes resulting from the digitisation of health records will be seen across the practice. Moreton Eye Group operate across three practices and patients need to be seen at different clinics depending on their needs. Paper-based records need to be transported between clinics, necessitating a dedicated courier service.
“A lovely man named Dan gets into his van each weekday morning and does a round of the clinics,” says Henderson. Though other supplies form part of the transport needs, the majority is patient files. “It’s a 50-60 kilometre round trip each day,” says Henderson. Last-minute urgent appointments see administration staff dropping everything to fax pages from a record to another clinic.
Even within the one practice, a single file might be needed by two or three people simultaneously. “Currently, there is a fair bit of fossicking for files within a clinic,” says Henderson, of the need for doctors, nurses, allied-health and administration staff to all use the one paper-based record for their work.
The scanning of medical files will mean the end of file-fossicking and transport. All staff will be able to instantly access all files whenever needed.
If you’d like instant access to your files, contact Avantix today.
Working Together – Digitisation of Large Archive Files
Moreton Eye Group found Avantix by doing a websearch for another digital scanning company. “Avantix’s name came up in the search result also, so I rang both” recalls Henderson. “Avantix were so responsive, they came to see me immediately.”
After an initial pilot test, full digitisation commenced. Avantix worked alongside Moreton Eye Group to develop the best approach to scanning over 10,000 patient files. Each week, 50 archive boxes of files are digitised.
Avantix’s work with Moreton Eye Group has included working with the fully electronic medical records system provided by Dox.
“Avantix and Dox have worked together with Moreton Eye Group to deliver a highly efficient solution that caters to all types of information; both structured and unstructured,” says Duncan Lord, Avantix CEO.
“Avantix have really gone above and beyond,” says Henderson, referring to Avantix’s response when a file that is in the process of being digitised is unexpectedly required for an urgent appointment. “Avantix have gone out of their way, which is really appreciated.”
Of the level of customer service received, Henderson is equally full of praise. “Every one of the people who answer the phone knows what the project is,” says Henderson.
Transition Time
With the digitisation process in full swing, it is transition time for Moreton Eye Group. “There have been some challenges, especially in the early days,” says Henderson of the change from paper-based to electronic medical records (EMR).
The medical records scanning project has resulted in substantial savings in another major transition for the practice. Building costs for a brand new clinic have been substantially reduced as a result of not needing to include dedicated paper-records storage space.
Avantix congratulate Moreton Eye Group on their clear vision in enacting a farsighted digitisation strategy that will see practice efficiencies both within and across each of their clinics.
