Medical Records Automation the Right Rx for Carilion
Case Study
Overview
Providing health care services to nearly 1 million patients in Virginia means a lot of paperwork. The Carilion Clinic had a scanning department but wasn’t getting quality work, according to Cindy Phelps, Senior Director of Carilion’s Technology Services Group. Facing challenges hiring quality staff, the health care organization decided to outsource its medical records scanning, indexing, and analysis — this is where we came to the rescue.
The Problem
Carilion had a lengthy scanning backlog with intake occurring at multiple locations. The paper-based processes were time-consuming and inefficient. Little visibility into the completed work was also challenging the organization’s research capabilities – we don’t like difficult and slow workflows.
The organizational standard for turning around medical and ambulatory records was three days. Billing and administrative documents were meant to be scanned into the system within a week. But, those standards were “not being met,” said Patterson Pope’s Kirk Martin. “They were struggling to transition their medical records department into a scanning department. They were 11 days behind for hospital and ambulatory records.”
The Solution
A courier system picks up and delivers the documents from Carilion to FileSolve daily for transport to our scanning facility in Salem. Once there the documents are sorted, assigned barcodes, labeled and boxed according to document type. Using a high-speed scanner, the records are processed and put into the system to be indexed and analyzed before going live to a centralized Carilion document queue.
All 15 full-time employees working with the Carilion documents are trained in HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) regulations. Each and every document is handled with care, so you know they are in the right hands. Plus, every document is tracked and secured in transit and onsite, said FileSolve’s Nancy Richards.
FileSolve’s medical record automation solution:
• Reduced the labor associated to capturing and indexing the medical record
• Minimized turnaround time from paper to digital file
• Improved visibility into the medical records automation process
medical & ambulatory records
from 11 days to 1 for intake records
“Partnering with FileSolve improved turnaround and
reduced cost letting us focus on the work that we needed to do.”
— Cindy Phelps, Senior Director of Carilion’s TSG
The Outcome
Partnering with FileSolve helped Carilion meet its medical records scanning goals more efficiently and reduce costs. Those were the most important advantages, Phelps said, but the business optimization also implemented more controls in the system “as far as the timeliness and turnaround time with the medical records.”
With a FileSolve solution in place, the organization’s medical and ambulatory records are available within 24 hours — that’s a whopping 200% faster than their old goal! The other administrative documents are up within 72 hours. But that’s not all. The documents are now indexed and more easily searched and accessed.
It’s a true partnership, says Martin. “Most of the people think Nancy and I work for Carilion, which we take as a high compliment.”
FileSolve’s medical record automation solution:
- Reduced the labor associated to capturing and indexing the medical record.
- Minimized turnaround time from paper to digital file.
- Improved visibility into the medical records automation process.
