Rincon India Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Author: Blogger

  • 90 seconds to learn how to send a fax from Zetafax

    Zetafax is the award winning fax server software from Equisys plc of UK that delivers secure, fast and cost effective document distribution. Simple to install, easy to manage and highly reliable, Equisys has a proven track record in providing businesses with complete fax server solutions that generate real cost savings whilst streamlining their business processes. This is why Zetafax is the proven choice of fax server for over 60,000 customers worldwide.

    In this video, in just a minute and a half you will learn how simple it is to send a fax from Zetafax. The video is available here.

  • Why should Hospitals have an EDMS?

    An Electronic Document management solution (EDMS) is a clear winner as a solution for challenges hospitals face when handling medical records. We are highlighting the top 5 reasons why any hospital should opt for an EDMS:

    1. To have an efficient and a cost effective solution
      To get the relevant documents and information when required without wasting time and effort is of paramount importance in the health care arena. By viewing a medical document, different doctors can take a consultative and collective decision in any critical situation irrespective of where he is. Paper archives are extremely time-consuming to be your source of information in the long run. Not only is it difficult to fetch information from a physical document library (especially an off-site one) but also causes a whole range of tasks connected to a business process to queue up, leading to activities getting delayed and possible cost escalations. You may not feel the pinch during good times; but during an economic downturn, having invested in an EDMS can mean lower costs when it matters most. In short for efficiency improvement and to provide a collaborative means of working an EDMS is a must.
    2. To avoid Data theft / Loss of data by securing the same
      Trust but verify – Knowing who accessed what and when, is a big deal when we talk of compliance.While this may sound complicated, the fact is that information management today is more accessible than ever. Keeping an audit trail and giving the correct level of access to the right people is mandatory for any EDMS. Access control for healthcare documents is a mandatory exercise which needs to be structured with utmost care. Specific modifications can be locked out for certain users based on the hospital’s requirement. Organisations should not only adhere to the compliance requirements but also should ensure that none of the documents / information is lost or misused. In the situations where patient insurance details are misused to avail false claims it is a must to protect the data / documents from falling into the wrong hands. Having documents in the soft form also helps in maintaining backups so that in case of natural calamities or systemic failure the data is protected.
    3. To avoid delinquencies in managing medical records
      The requirements for timely medical record completion are well established in the law and through industry accreditation standards. Insurance companies and governmental payment programs may generally deny reimbursement if medical records are not complete when a claim is processed for payment. Good patient care requires the timely completion of medical records. Unless the latest documentation is included in a patient’s chart, it is unlikely that the chart will reflect what the practitioner knows and the treatment that was provided on the day that he evaluated the patient. Patient care errors can occur if medical records are incomplete when additional care is required. The medical staff rules and regulations of most hospitals have provisions which allow for the warning and then take disciplinary actions on practitioners who do not comply with the requirements for the timely completion of medical records. By having a good EDMS solution in place the MRD person would easily able to identify if any important document is missing for a patient by simply glancing through the patient document details.
    4. To provide better patient satisfaction and have a competitive edge
      Having an EDMS in place will bring dramatic improvement to respond to any requests from patients or insurance companies efficiently and effectively. These benefits are derived from the fact that accurate information about each episode of care and related patient and financial information is organized and stored in the system and accessible within seconds. Relevant users can verify billing, dispute erroneous claims and respond to any other questions while the person is waiting on the phone because all of the information is right there at their finger tips. The organization derives straight-line return on investment from its ability to answer questions on a single call-saving the cost of returning telephone calls. Customer service will be improved substantially by using a EDMS without doubt.

      A few small lapses in levels of customer service may not be too detrimental. But when the hospital’s medical record management policy (or lack of it) leads to a serious strategic or tactical error, it could result in the hospital’s reputation being seriously tarnished. This can jeopardize the hospital’s position in the market in the long term and have a cascading effect on other areas of operation.

    5. To focus on your core business
      Being busy with the mundane work doesn’t give any employee job satisfaction nor learning. Enormous amount of effort and energy may currently be spent in finding the relevant document when a doctor asks for some reports or insurance company ask for some set of documents. Instead of spending that time on searching documents, employees could spend time on quality work like improving performance of the department, reduce the billing cycle, streamline TPA activities etc. By focusing on quality work, the overall efficiency of the organisation would be improved and employees would feel the pride of working for the organisation.

    To help manage the barrage of paper and medical records associated with patients, vendors etc. investing in a good EDMS software is the best option which could integrate with the existing software including the HIMS system in place. The last thing you want to do with your new document management system is spend precious staff time doing backfile conversion. Leave that to the professionals and focus on your business.

    Contributed by Ashish Baby

  • Medical Records – A legal point of view

    Clear documentation of every single transaction, process and action that takes place will allow you to have a clear reference point whenever anything is questioned. Medical Records are an important document meant basically for recording the treatment procedure meant for a patient. It is important both for the patient as well as for the doctor. It is important for doctors to realise that Medical Records have become the single most effective weapon in their hands to counter the claims of the patients, when they file a case for compensation. The law is very clear regarding the Medical Records and the value of it. The law requires proper maintenance of case sheets since they are the most important document that can be used in medico legal cases. In some cases these documents may serve as effective alibi for the patients too.

    Medical Records can help prove the innocence of the doctors concerned and under medical ethics, the case report is supposed to be given to the patient on demand. Accusation of malpractices and unethical codes of conduct can be made against the concerned doctor / consultant if he / she fails to provide the patient with all the details and the case sheets of his admission, operation and the postoperative medication along with the dosage. It is an important aspect of the written evidence. It is strictly confidential document & should be produced as and when asked by the law. Medical records are medico-legal documents and a doctor can be cross-examined against the same. The patient also has the right to get his medical records and cannot be denied the same when he has paid the doctor / hospital for his treatment and hired their services. Not maintaining a proper record amounts to deficiency in service.

    Medical Records are the backbone of any medical institution. With advancement in technology maintenance of medical records has become much easier and more efficient. Records and documents properly kept can become defence shields for the doctors / hospital in the court of law and is a good DMS Solution is highly recommended in hospital / clinics.
    Contributed by Ashish Baby

  • Medrecon 2011 – Hyderabad

    We participated in the recently held Medrecon 2011 conference in Hyderabad. This is an annual national conference on Medical Records. With a view to increase our reach in the Indian market particularly for the Medical records department in the India’s leading hospitals, along with our technology partner e-bizindia participated in the event organized by Kamineni Hospitals. This event provided an opportunity for the health record professionals to enrich their knowledge, skills, technology and get updated with the latest trends in health records management. It was a unique platform to interact with each other to enhance efficiency, accuracy and get updated on the technological advancements related to medical records and health information management. There were more than 300 participants from various healthcare fields like Doctors, Medical Records Professionals, Health care Administrators, Medico-legal experts, I.T professionals from the field of Hospital information management and Document Management Software side. It was great experience meeting the experts and understanding current processes, practical challenges in deploying solutions and know the future scope of EDMS solution in the healthcare segment.

    During the event scientific papers on various following topics were presented by delegates and sponsors. To name few which attracted my interest was

    • Digitization of Health Records (Focus on Problems & Prospects)
    • Transition from Health records to Health information management (Focus on Future vision)
    • Legal Aspects of Medical Records (Focus on R.T.I.& C.P.A)
    • Health records and Health insurance (Focus on tackling the challenges)
    • Role of Medical Records in Health Tourism (Focus on records/data sharing)
    • Initiation towards formation of National Health Record Policy & Health Records Council of India (Focus on Implementation Issues)
    • Modern trends and techniques on Medical Records (Focus on present scenario)

    As part of our participation, we had a booth where delegates could walk in and see our solution and engage in discussions. They walked away with information and a chart were they could record information pertaining to the medical records they handled. We also got an opportunity to present our solution on the need to digitization of paper based medical records and the importance of integrating an EDMS solution with HIS, HMIS, EMR, EHR and other applications in the organisation. During one of the panel discussions, there was a discussion on the need to work towards standardizing curriculum for Medical Record Professional. One of the delegates suggested having online examinations for Medical Record professionals which I felt was a very valid point in today’s times.

    Contributed by Harshad Thakkar

  • The Secret Life of the Fax Machine

    Thanks to Roopesh Mistry for sending this link…. It takes us through the evolution of fax albeit in a comic book manner. This link is worth visit.

  • Equisys announces v4.1 of Zetadocs for NAV

    On January 27, 2011, Equisys has announced availability of version 4.1 of its Zetadocs for NAV software solution. The new version extends the electronic capture and delivery of documents, allowing customers to further improve efficiency and use Zetadocs to handle a wider range of business processes.

    Version 4.0 of Zetadocs for NAV introduced a new ‘drag-and-drop’ document capture capability, allowing emails, faxes or scanned documents to be dragged and dropped onto the Equisys created document fast-tab in the NAV Role Tailored Client (RTC), automatically uploading the file to SharePoint and creating the appropriate links in NAV. Version 4.1 now extends that capability to users of NAV’s Classic Client in Zetadocs Capture editions.

    For more information, click here.

  • The importance of archiving your faxes as also other documents

    Important faxes or paper documents can get easily lost and result in serious legal ramifications in any organisation. If you are into medical, finance, insurance or banking business then the impact could be significant even if one customer files a lawsuit as a result of a missing document.

    Recently, an incident occurred with one of the leading insurance companies with one of the fax documents stating the pre-disease details of a customer were lost. This resulted in the amount not getting approved when the customer filed his claim for expenses incurred. A lawsuit was filed and the insurance company lost the same. We are not saying that it would always be this critical but you ought to be ready to deliver your best and prepare yourselves for any eventuality.

    Even though the significance of backup process and the need for a document management system (for faxes as well as other documents / records) is acknowledged by everyone, they fail to implement it in the organisation. Delaying the implementation of an archival system can have a ripple effect. Businesses that have an archival system in place are far better equipped to succeed in today’s digital age. Better communication, lower costs, quick turnaround times (TAT), improved productivity and quality levels are not good to have terms but standards to follow to sustain in this competitive world.

    Contributed by Ashish Baby

  • DMS – some reality bites

    In communication methods followed in the past, paper had a great significance but now the modern times the usage of paper as a mode of communication has significantly reduced. Transfer of knowledge from generation to generation in the form of books, manuals still follows but the way the next gen accesses the same has changed considerably. This could be one possible reason why people embrace information and data in digital mode. The demand for audio books is gaining more popularity across the world. Email is one of the most used means of communication in the new world. The use of electronic fax is now more common in offices. Diminishing forest area, unprecedented climate change and other changes affecting the quality of life have provoked people to go with the concept of GoGreen which discourages the use of paper. In modern cities, the ever increasing cost of real estate also plays a significant role and as a result storing paper documents turns out to be prohibitively expensive.

    Managing sensitive paper documents and sharing selective information is also a tedious task if you don’t have the information in a digitised manner. Even though a vast majority of users are aware of the above facts and accept the need of a document management solution in their environment, excuses like DMS solution being very expensive, no need to store documents in a centralised location, not much volume of paper to justify the need to go in for a software, information stored is not that sensitive etc. are commonly heard. There still are users who are comfortable with paper and many might not be willing to change over to a completely digital way of doing things. There is a notion among a set of people that electronic documents can be easily manipulated and some says their subsidiaries are still relying on paper documents hence their preference also needs to be considered.

    The paperless office remains a myth no doubt and there is not a single software which can be a one-for-it-all to address the requirement of a myriad of users but surely if you look for the right solution, there is one which will fit your needs.

    Contributed by Ashish Baby

  • Future trends of medical records

    Patient data confidentiality and internal data security at hospitals will continue to be at risk if proper care is not taken while transferring data from paper form to the digital format. All good hospitals wish to leverage the growing power of information technology in the health care industry so that the quality of care and efficiency benefits that come with computerization are utilised for improving the overall patient experience.

    The latest market research report by Global Industry Analysts (GIA) on Electronic Medical Records (EMR) shows that EMR systems are widely accepted in the health care industry worldwide. Hospitals now have a system for effective management of data, less costs, minimum staff and improving the quality of care. The paradigm predicts that patients will become the decision makers in future health care interactions and most importantly, patients will own their own health data, rather than it being owned and contained by health care institutions and professionals. If this trends grows, there is a possibility that people will start building communities and share their experience. This enables patients to understand a great deal about their health and any illnesses they experience and improve the quality of their lives thereby. Doctors also feel that EMR will help them to maintain high-level of quality patient care while keeping ahead of the curve as a state-of-the-art hospital/clinic. EMR for various specialities is also an emerging trend and oncology is the first to start with.

    Contributed by Ashish Baby

  • Increased significance of barcodes in improving process efficiency

    Improving business processes, fostering improved collaboration and finding easier ways to ensure information is handled in compliance with internal or external regulation are challenges organizations of all sizes deal with on a daily basis. Any party to the transaction (client, processor, coordinator, vendor, you, etc.) can fax documents directly for processing. Reliably integrating vital electronic and paper documents obtained by fax or courier such as invoices, expense details, purchase orders, claims , contracts into the available enterprise workflow is a standard challenge. This challenge can be overcome by having a barcode on the document.

    Paper documents stamped with bar codes are widely used in a variety of industries such as finance, mortgage, insurance, healthcare, transportation and manufacturing. Combine these bar code stamped documents with network based faxing and data capture solution would result in a mature and cost-saving data collection technology. By having a barcode on the documents helps the software in segregating the documents, identifying the documents and also holding relevant metadata of the documents.

    As a part of standardization or the need to make processing of documents efficient most software allow printing their output or forms with a barcode. Once the fax or a document with the bar code is obtained, the fax server or the data capturing software can read the bar code and extract the metadata. The metadata is then used to determine, route, retrieve documents efficiently and effectively.

    A bar code of twelve characters can be read in approximately the same time it takes a keyboard operator to make two keystrokes. For every 1,000 characters typed by a keyboard operator, there are an average of ten errors. For an Optical Character Reader (OCR), there is one error in every 10,000 reads. Clearly, barcodes expedite front-end processing by improving scanning and indexing methods. Combined with data capture technology, bar codes provide a rapid, accurate and efficient means to collect, process, transmit, record and manage data in a variety of industries. With a data capture solution, capturing data is faster and more accurate, costs are lower, errors minimized and managing inventory is much easier.

    In Rincon’s EDMS solutions, the barcode values are used to map the scanned image with the metadata / critical information available in the documents. With better decision-making, with better information, you can gain opportunities and get ahead of the competition. We see barcodes being used in the future on almost all major forms, documents available for processing.

    Contributed by Ashish Baby