How Reliable is a Paperless Office?

Nowadays paperless office set up has caught the interest of people in all walks of life including the medical field. To set up a flourishing practice, one needs to maintain a proper record of all the details of the patients and update them at regular basis. An electronic medical records system (EMR) facilitates easy maintenance of the records without any hassles whatsoever. To ensure a thriving practice and to stay in tune with changing times, you need a paperless office set up.

Before changing your paper office to a paperless electronic set up you need to look over the existing paper files. A segregation of the forms like the day to day forms, federal and state based forms should be done. Also the forms need to be grouped into separate files according to the importance of the original and duplicate forms, whether they can be used further or can be eliminated.

The main purpose of forming a paperless office is the conversion of the maximum possible files and data to the electronic medical record system. You may have to make some templates of the required forms, which can be filled with the necessary details electronically. The forms that have to be filled in manually have to be singled out and kept in a separate file and those that can be included in the BMR system can be identified and added to the system. Custom templates are very expensive and also consume a lot of valuable time. So their use should be considered before selecting them.

All the paper forms should be saved as images by scanning them but this is of only limited use, as it is a 'read only' data. The forms scanned by this method cannot be used for research purposes. The paper forms are still regarded as an integral part of a practice set up though they tend to wear out on prolonged use.

Using e-prescriptions is a simple and easy format that can be followed without converting completely to the EMR system. These e- prescriptions are passed on to the pharmacy and eliminate the need for prescription pads and hand written work. And further when you look at the communication between medical practitioners, most of them will not be favorable for a complete change of their records system. According to a study done on this matter, only 7 to 10% of the practices are using the EMR system successfully.

The EMR system is equipped to format a document based on the clinical examination, which is later printed and mailed manually or in the digital form. But there are legal regulations regarding the transfer of medical data by e-mail and have to be followed properly to avoid any trouble later on.

In spite of making your entire practice a paperless one, you may still need some paper work to be done for legal purposes. It is better to keep your office equipped for some paper work as the idea of a complete paperless office is still far from reach.

source: The Myth of the Paperless Office by Abigail J. Sellen and Richard H. R. Harper