The American Hospital Association, for instance, in a letter to CMS, says it wants the agency to let hospitals provide patients with information about their stay–including discharge instructions–within 30 days, rather than 36 hours. Of what use is 30-day old discharge information to patients?

This kind of information is valuable to patients, and with the technology available, there’s no reason not to make it required.

If you office needs EHR Scanning or EMR Scanning of your existing records, please get in touch for a quote. It’s best to be ready for possible new regulations, both for your office and your patients.

Check out these Apps if you have an iPad 2 or the most recent one: OfficeDrop or Genius Scan.

Both are handy and will convert to PDF and other formats.

Many companies are riding the wave of the green movement to put out eco-friendly construction materials that simply don’t do the job.

Peter Pfeiffer, a nationally recognized green architect who is based in Austin, characterized green building product certifications as “a wild and woolly world,” and said he’s found that many certifications raise as many questions as they’re supposedly answering.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next decade, and what sort of certifications are put in place to prevent builders (and home owners) from being misled.

We’re obviously for being as green as possible at all times, but doing it right is just as important.

What’s even more interesting is what that means for the recycling of the shirts themselves.

“All (of our) garments are engineered to be garment-recycled at the end of their life, but the technology to reclaim the garments has not been fully developed,” said Stacy Flynn, global director of sustainable development for Rethink. “We need to ensure that garments get back in the supply chain.”

Normally we don’t think about clothing as something that contributes to the vast amount of waste on this planet, but we threw out 8.9 million tons of of textiles in 2010, according to the company.

RETHINK’s shirts are also able to be recycled, which they hope will make some sort of dent in that number, if their process can be duplicated elsewhere.

This wasn’t related so much to our core business of document scanning, but we like to give a little nod to positive environmental movements, which definitely is related to what we do.

Check out RETHINK on Facebook.

The large document scanning is through the link.

What’s the different between a paperless office and a digital office?

The truth of the matter is that the terms mean the same thing. Feel free to use them back-and-forth as you please.

Now that that’s settled, let’s get to the benefits of having one, particularly as it applies to documents and having your documents scanned. In no particular order:

Lower overall operating costs.
Online collaboration and viewing of documents.
No cost/labor for large-scale document retrieval.
Far less office/storage space needed.
Reduced risk of both fire and theft of documents.
Long-term saving of documents – never run out of storage.
No lost or misplaced documents.

This is only a partial list, and please feel free to get in touch with us for elaboration on this and more, or to request a quote. (And yes, saying you want to go either digital or paperless will work.)

Below are only some of the types of records regular converted to digital, making your office space less cluttered, your records easier to find, and your staff therefore more productive with their time.

Birth Records
Growth Charts
Immunization Records
Master Problem List
Chronic/Incidental/PRN Medications
Allergies/Sensitivities
School/Scout/Etc PE’s
Special Evaluations
All Referral Consults/Findings
Family History
Lab Reports
Diagnostic Imaging Reports.
Insurance History
Demographic Sheet
Address Changes
All Legal Documents

Again, this is only a partial list. If your practice is ready to make the move to EMRs, don’t hesitate to contact us for a quote.

They had a recent press release to promote some new additions to the line, in particular how these new scanners can benefit with the digitizing of medical records.

“Canon is dedicated to providing efficient imaging technology that plays a key role across all departments within a healthcare organization,” said Sam Yoshida, vice president and general manager, Marketing, Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A.

“As a leader in digital imaging, Canon is uniquely positioned to offer a diverse portfolio of solutions to streamline separate healthcare workflows, which will inevitably generate cost savings and, most importantly, improve patient care.”

The organizing of electronic health records is vital to the medical industry in the 21st century, and we’re eager to help. Give us a call or submit for a quote, and we’ll be in touch.

A big part of this transition is being found in the construction of new office buildings, which are taking a definitive green stance, following guidelines established by agencies here in the US.

This indicates that green concerns for businesses are found not just in office space policies like document scanning, but also in office spaces themselves.

This was a stunning fact found in the linked article:

It is estimated that buildings contribute around 30 percent of greenhouse emissions and use up around 40 percent of the world’s energy.

Closing out the piece is a statement we’ve made many times, and find in the foundation of why we want to help businesses move to a paperless office:

With the cost of greening a building or office space is decreasing and the benefits of doing so increasing, corporate occupiers should no longer ask whether a project can afford to go green, but instead ask whether their business can afford not to.

These changes are not just coming – they’re here.

Document management technology, security and document workflow means that workers no longer need to be co-located and this means:

- Working from home can be a real practical reality
- Office downsizing is an achievable goal
- Improved worker productivity means fewer staff

These are real costs any employer can get their minds around. The article is worth the read. It’s thorough and fair, which means it covers some of the ways that going through the document scanning process may not be as green as one thinks.

Give it a read. (And then call for a quote if you’re in Southern California – you’ll be convinced.)