Every year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration receives over 100,000 reports related to errors in medication that have occurred throughout hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and more. While some of these are related to improper prescribing, others are due to administrative errors and errors inherent in filling out or transferring paper-based documentation. It is estimated that up to 9,000 Americans die each year as a result of these errors. Importantly, medication errors can also affect pets, with many dying or sustaining injuries due to such errors.

Other adverse events related to manual data entry in a healthcare environment include:

• Missing test results — not recording test data in a patient’s EHR can lead to slower treatment
• Reporting incorrectly — results recorded incorrectly can lead to misdiagnoses that could lead to poorer outcomes or even death
• Lower efficiency and higher costs — human manual entry is slow and tedious requiring more expensive labor time that reduces time spent on more mission-critical activities

With the third leading cause of death in the United States being attributed to medical errors, it is time for doctors, veterinarians, and dentists alike to look at ways to improve recording accuracy.

The Importance of Robust Document Management in Healthcare Environments 

Besides reducing medical errors, eliminating manual entry and digitizing the document management process results in a host of other benefits, including: 

Better Access to Data

When paper documents are stored in various locations, it can be difficult to extract the data you need for each patient in a timely manner. In addition, losing documents can create significant issues with patient care and reduce your compliance with applicable data protection and privacy regulations. A robust document management system that digitizes data helps you store all information in a secure, centralized system for fast, easy retrieval of accurate data.

Assured Compliance

Speaking of compliance, a document management system (DMS) helps healthcare providers reduce the risk of non-compliance by handling documents securely. Many systems offer automated features that classify and store individual documents according to sensitivity, provide access control features that ensure on authorized personnel gain access to critical information, and flag important document updates and changes. In addition, software updates and patches are conducted automatically and your system can be remotely monitored for suspicious activity on a 24/7 basis for additional security. 

Reduction in Storage Requirements

Any doctor who has had to manage reams of paper-based patient folders knows that these can take up lots of valuable floor space. Not only must you set aside expensive real estate for file cabinets, but you may even have to rent storage facilities to store older documents for a requisite amount of time. With digital document management solutions, your documents can be stored securely on a server at your premises, or, even better, on the cloud for improved security. 

Better Recovery from Disaster

Healthcare providers continue to be a favorite target of cybercriminals, with breaches affecting organizations of all sizes. For many, it is not a matter of if a breach will occur, but rather when it will occur. When you have a secure document management system in place, your managed services provider (MSP) will ensure that you have both redundancy and disaster recovery protocols in place. If a breach occurs, you will still have access to critical data so that business continuity is preserved. 

Blue Technologies Provides Leading Edge Document Management

To keep data protected, there is a greater emphasis than ever on compliance with consumer data privacy laws and regulations. And, there is an increasing emphasis on reducing the manual errors that can lead to potentially dangerous mistakes in the provision of healthcare. 

At Blue Technologies, we offer our healthcare clients a wide array of leading-edge document management solutions that can help protect you — and your patients — from these costly mistakes. Our team of DMS specialists can analyze your current system and create a bespoke document management solution that takes your individual business needs and challenges into consideration.

Keep your patient data accessible, accurate, and safe. Contact a Blue Technologies consultant and discover how our document management solutions can help.