New Survey from Iron Mountain Shows Hospitals Lack Standard Approach
to Digitizing Patient Records; 1 in 4 Spending $100 Million or More
BOSTON, Jul 12, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
One year after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) set
criteria for the "meaningful
use" of electronic health records, 70 percent of hospitals expect to
claim federal subsidies for meeting stage one requirements. Yet 78
percent expect to continue to treat patients using paper records for up
to five more years despite the financial incentive for meeting these
requirements and an electronic medical record's (EMR) inherent promise
of a paperless treatment cycle.
These are two findings of a recent survey from information management
company Iron
Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) that asked 200 health information
professionals how they're scanning paper patient records and planning to
use them moving forward. The results reveal hospital - lacking
guidelines from CMS for scanning paper patient files - are taking
different approaches to digitizing records, with scanning budgets
sometimes exceeding $100 million. Key findings of the survey include:
-
Only half (49 percent) of hospitals say they've scanned what they need
and are within their budget, while 23 percent report they're within
budget but still have a backlog of records to scan;
-
More than half (54 percent) are scanning records at onsite records
rooms, while nearly one third (29 percent) use a centralized scanning
location;
-
Seventy-two percent rely on full-time employees to scan compared to
just nine percent who outsource to third parties and six percent who
use part-time staff;
-
Forty-four percent of hospitals are not explicitly measuring the
effectiveness or productivity of their scanning process;
-
Once scanning is complete, 58 percent will shred their paper records,
while 38 percent plan to store the paper in their onsite records room
or in an offsite facility.
"The Meaningful Use guidelines set the clock ticking for hospitals to
claim their share of the billions set aside for successful EMR
transition," said Ken Rubin, senior vice president and general manager
for healthcare
at Iron Mountain. "Reaching those incentives involves changing the
way paper records are used and accessed by hospitals, a process that
leaves most hospitals in a prolonged period of using 'hybrid' records -
both paper and electronic. Accelerating through this hybrid period by
effectively converting paper records is essential to greater utilization
of an EMR to drive down costs and improve patient care. But without a
formalized and efficient process for scanning records, many hospitals
will struggle in this hybrid period to manage their records scanning
process and drive physician utilization of a fully-electronic EMR
system. This research highlights that struggle, but also gives hospitals
some ideas as to where they can look within their own processes and
policies for opportunities to become more efficient and cost-effective."
The survey findings suggest three areas for saving time and money during
the EMR transition process - better preparation, scanning the right
records, and improved resource utilization:
- Better Preparation - More than one quarter ofhospitals
(28 percent) reported to scanning all patient records. Before
scanning, hospitals should centralize their records so they can
reclaim storage space spread across their organization and organize
files to identify both duplicates and those past their state-mandated
retention period. Destroying duplicate and outdated records saves
hospitals from scanning the wrong records.
- Scanning the Right Records - Records managers can ease
the EMR transition by prioritizing which records caregivers need first
and most often for scanning. Many hospitals (35 percent) are
prioritizing the records of recently discharged patients. Others are
adopting "day
forward" method of scanning, digitizing paper records as they are
created for patients.
- Better Resource Utilization - Misuse of personnel can be
the biggest drain on a scanning budget - costing both time and money -
yet only nine percent of hospitals are outsourcing scanning to a third
party. Hospitals who outsource their scanning free their teams to
focus on patient care and often lower their cost per scan by
increasing their output.
Conducted between April 7-18, 2011, the Scanning Services Survey polled
201 health information professionals involved in and/or responsible for
scanning patient records and transitioning their organization toan
EMR. Respondents were from hospitals of all sizes, including hospitals
that are part of a larger healthcare system.
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) provides information management
services that help organizations lower the costs, risks and
inefficiencies of managing their physical and digital data. The
Company's solutions enable customers to protect and better use their
information--regardless of its format, location or lifecycle stage--so
they can optimize their business and ensure proper recovery, compliance
and discovery. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain manages billions of
information assets, including business records, electronic files,
medical data, emails and more for organizations around the world. Visit www.ironmountain.com
or follow the company on Twitter @IronMountain for more information.
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SOURCE: Iron Mountain Incorporated
Iron Mountain
Christian T. Potts, 617-535-8721
christian.potts@ironmountain.com
or
Weber Shandwick
Kristen Georgian, 617-520-7042
kgeorgian@webershandwick.com