EvriChart

Take a look at the latest security measure that EvriChart, Inc. has taken. This is a Caterpillar Standby Emergency Generator. It is powered by a Ford V10 engine that runs on propane. We can run our entire facility off of this generator for approximately 72-80 hours. Just last week, a power line went down in town due to high winds, and we were in the dark for less than 10 seconds! Production was backup and running and requests were being filled.

EvriChart has just purchased a new microfilm scanner for ClientPortal. This new reader actually uploads the images directly into Portal, which eliminates the need to print and scan charts. The image enhancement feature ensures that the best possible image will be provided - all without the need for paper.

This is especially important when you consider that there are years of medical records stored in this format. Coupled with the fact that equipment at most facilities is aging, and in many cases nearly impossible to service, and you have a dire situation.

This scanner bridges the gap between the 20th and 21st century's technology.

EvriChart, the only document management company working exclusively for the healthcare industry, has now been noticed by an expert in the health information technology field.

Jason Perlow, writing in his blog, Tech Broiler, for ZDNet, calls EvriChart a “Linux success story” for its transition from a Windows-based operating system to a better document-managing platform more scalable and flexible for the continued growth of their medical records management business.

The blog can be read at: http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=11383 along with a podcast.

In the influential blog, Perlow interviewed EvriChart chief information officer Tony Maro, who summarized the company’s transformation to a customized enterprise operating system that exceeds data security requirements under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). The new system enables the company to substantially increase data throughput and security.

Under the legislation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights will have the funding, and the mandate, to conduct audits to enforce security and privacy rules under the newly strengthened Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The latest regulations for healthcare privacy and security highlight the importance of becoming and remaining compliant in all aspects of medical-records and data management.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes a provision called the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). Under this legislation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will have the funding to conduct compliance audits to enforce privacy rules under the newly strengthened Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

In addition, the law requires businesses associates to healthcare providers, including transcriptionists, contract coders, third-party billers, storage vendors and others, to comply with the stringent HIPAA security privacy rules.

The latest regulations are a significant challenge for medical providers and business associates. The law emphasizes the importance of having a compliant system of electronic and paper record-keeping, among other things. While it will cost many healthcare organizations significant dollars to become compliant, the legislation does push along the much-needed movement toward electronic health records and better overall compliance.

Although the regulations will prove to be difficult for many healthcare providers, being fully compliant with the law will ultimately save money and boost productivity – but should not be overwhelmingly difficult. Many business associates, however, may need to evaluate the cost versus benefit of retaining health information under the new laws.

EvriChart is one of just a few information management companies fully compliant with HITECH because we understand these complexities and the unique challenges the industry is facing. Companies who have invested in becoming compliant are better able to face these regulations and increase their efficiencies so they can focus on what’s most important -- patient care.

Everyone seems to be talking about how to cut costs in healthcare. Whether it’s a debate over efficiencies or an effort to limit lawsuits, there are plenty of opinions floating around.

The nation’s hospitals are pledging to crack down on spending. The American Hospital Association, the Catholic Health Association, the Federation of Americans Hospitals and others have all agreed to cut costs by $155 billion over the next decade.

Yet there are already many ways for hospitals, physician offices and clinics to enhance efficiencies and reduce costs. One of the easiest is to simply become and remain compliant with accurate medical records.

Healthcare facilities that cannot produce accurate medical records in a reasonable time and don’t provide proper safekeeping of these records may find themselves out of compliance with such government agencies as CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), or the non-profit Joint Commission.

That could mean fines, lost productivity, lawsuits and other woes.

Organizations that are not compliant must redirect valuable labor to correct mistakes, eliminate duplicates or re-file records. It’s estimated the healthcare industry spends millions of dollars each year – that’s wasted money – on the problem.

By investing instead in ways to organize and safeguard medical records, providers can be sure their staff are doing what they do best – delivering patient care, not dealing with record problems.

Millions of boxes of medical records are stored around the nation. Many of these files, if not already digitized, sit in climate-controlled warehouses or rooms, well-organized and easily located.

Others lie in haphazard ways, prone to fire, humidity, flood or break-in. Some can’t even be found in the clutter.

So what happens when those records are needed to treat a patient, for reimbursement or in defense of a lawsuit?

Today’s litigious society, along with tougher privacy laws, dictate that medical records be located quickly and accurately, whether in digital or paper formats. If lives aren’t dependant on it, then lawsuits could be.

Healthcare facilities that cannot produce accurate medical records in a reasonable time and don’t provide proper safekeeping of these records may find themselves out of compliance with such government agencies as CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or the non-profit Joint Commission, which accredits and certifies more than 16,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States.

With today’s emphasis on patient privacy, just imagine a situation where an unauthorized person gains access to medical records and walks away with Social Security numbers, medical information and more.

Or if there is a lawsuit involving Medicare fraud or patient care, and accurate medical records are needed for a healthcare facility to defend itself.

Given these potential scenarios, EvriChart believes federal and industry agencies will focus on tightening regulations and dedicating resources needed to enforce those regulations. Now imagine the surprise of healthcare facilities when they’re asked to produce records – and can’t find them, resulting in substantial financial penalties.

Healthcare facilities will need to step up their efforts to safeguard and store medical records to ensure they are compliant.

We're getting ready for a trip to Dallas to exhibit at the TXHIMA annual meeting and convention. This will be the first trade event we've attended since rolling out our new MPI Analaysis service, and I look forward to some good discussions surrounding it.

If you're at the show, be sure to drop by and say hi! I'll be there along with John King and Susan Seams.

Is it possible to eliminate human error in electronic medical records?

Quite possibly.

With the healthcare industry accelerating toward fully electronic health records, we’ve introduced the first software-as-a-service of its kind to identify and prevent errors in electronic medical records.

Our MPI Cleanup makes it possible for any healthcare provider – from a small physician office to large hospital – to produce an error-free Master Patient Index (MPI) without expensive software.

As more medical records go digital, there’s a high risk that incorrect information can find its way into a patient’s files or that there are duplicate files for the same patient. This wastes a lot of time for healthcare providers, increases legal liability and, worst of all, reduces quality of patient care.

We use powerful, patent-pending algorithms designed by humans to find human errors in digital medical records such as duplicate information, typographical errors, invalid Social Security numbers and name and address changes.

Patient care suffers when there are inaccurate, incomplete or duplicate records. Error-free records also prevent double-billings or payments and iron-tight records help healthcare providers defend themselves in a lawsuit.

This is even more important with the ongoing move to electronic health records as errors will become harder to find.

So wouldn’t it be great if our industry no longer had to accept “to err is human?”

Welcome to the EvriChart Blog.

At EvriChart, we have a lot to say about medical records and the technology safeguarding medical information.

That’s why we’re introducing the EvriChart blog. We’ll cover the latest in technology, industry developments, government regulations and more. We want this to be the first place you turn for analysis about our industry.

This is an exciting and growing segment of healthcare that helps hospitals, physician offices and clinics reduce waste and spend more time on patient care.

And with so much in the news recently about privacy and medical records, this is a great time to lead some of the discussion about trends and issues in medical records management.

Our HIPAA-trained professionals develop plans, software, space and services for electronic and paper-records management so the healthcare industry has an efficient and secure way to retain, access and destroy medical records.

We’ve already earned the trust of some of the biggest names in the healthcare industry. Now we can share our expertise with you.

If there's something you'd like to know about, drop us a line or subscribe to our RSS feed.

We look forward to a fun and informative dialogue about all things medical records.