Document Scanning Blog

When it comes to the subject electronic medical records (EMRs) comes up, smaller medical offices often think there is no need to make the transition. Either they think it is too expensive, too time consuming, or too confusing. Others worry about how it will affect the jobs of their office staff, or they prefer to carry a paper chart instead of a laptop. There are plenty of reasons to delay the inevitable. Now that Healthcare Reform is here, a system-wide transition to electronic health records isn’t far behind. Many hospitals are already moving from their old system of EMRs to a new system that will be compatible with universal EHRs. It won’t be long before every doctors office, small or large, is expected to make their patient records available in a digital format. But large healthcare systems are not the only ones who realize that digital medical record scanning is a necessity. Patients are also demanding this technology be offered by their providers. It is much easier for patients to communicate with their doctors when all the information they need is easily accessible. EMR scanning also make it easier for doctors’ offices to track billing, recognize healthcare trends, and keep test results with a patient’s file where they belong. As a medical professional, it makes sense to keep up with the latest technology. Not only will it inspire more trust from your patients, it will minimize overhead costs for your practice. The process of scanning documents and medical charts may be tedious and time consuming, but it can be done. Many small medical offices outsource the document scanning and storage to a team of professionals who can work on-site or at a separate facility. Most document scanning companies are also equipped to help small medical offices make the transition into a new EMR system.

As the paperless office becomes the new “normal”, many small businesses now find themselves grappling with the manipulation of scanned content. For example, when a law firm or medical office converts to a digital platform for record-keeping, there is usually a need to access a scanned document and updated it at some point. This isn’t always necessary with medical charts, because EMRs convert charts into online forms, but there are many other scanned documents that will require some editing down the road. One of the best solutions for the conversion of image files, or PDFs, into text-rich searchable documents is to use document scanning. It can be done in many languages, and allows law firms, archive facilities and museums to search, catalog, and manipulate the content of image files. Many offices use HTML programming language in OCR scanning because it allows for quick access and simple editing. In addition to converting these scanned documents into searchable text, OCR scanning can also structure the data for conversion to Excel. Of course, the success of any Excel conversion through OCR will depend greatly upon the readability and structure of the existing pages. Document scanning that has already have tabulated data (using delimited tabs and spaces) usually generate the best result, while sheets with non-standard columns may need to be manually adjusted. There are other ways to make the conversion from image file to Excel, such as Zonal Software, Adobe Acrobat, and Visual Basic, but these can be time consuming and more expensive than document scanning. A great way to determine which solution is best for your needs is to ask for a test or sample.

One of the biggest challenges to any legal practice is the management of paperwork that must be copied, distributed, filed and stored. Fortunately, there are now many off-the-shelf solutions for digital online storage of legal paperwork, but first all of these documents must be scanned. Many law offices shy away from going paperless because they cannot devote the time or resources to scanning and cataloging every pleading, petition, contract and brief. Like many law firms, a decision needs to be made about whether to do the document scanning in small increments over a long period of time, or hire a document scanning company to come in and do it for them. However, even if the bulk of the documents are scanned by professionals, law offices must still invest in a reliable scanner to keep up with the constant flow of paperwork. In many cases, law firms choose to only digitize certain types of documents, such as archived casework, and use paper documents for all original pleadings, signature-related documents and evidence. The most important caveat, particularly for smaller firms, is that the process of going paperless doesn’t prevent lawyers from doing what they do best – practicing law. Only when this type of endeavor is managed properly can a small office begin to compete with larger firms. Once all the important documents have been scanned, a computerized case management system must be in place to keep everything in order. These programs perform many tasks, including case management, maintaining detailed client accounts, and organizing documents both by client and subject matter. There are several case management software packages on the market, each with varying price points and benefits. Another valuable addition to any paperless law office is a digital law library. Using a document scanning system like this, it is possible to copy and paste citations and statutes into legal petitions and pleadings.