Article Highlights
- Creating a document control system
- Establishing robust workflows and security
- Equipping frontline workers with mission-critical information
- Integrating your healthcare document management systems
- Leveraging healthcare document management software
Healthcare document management goes beyond storing critical documents in binders (or shared drives) and communicating policy updates via email. While the paper (or shared-drive) process is "working" and has been "effective" for many years and changing to a digital platform will cause unrest, you need to ask yourself: Is there a more reliable, cost-effective way to manage our critical documents?
Paper and printing costs, as well as the human resources it takes to manage a non-digital process, add up to an exorbitant amount. Yet the process does not ensure staff can locate the most current, approved document and apply it as intended.
By digitizing your document management process, you can manage policies and maintain compliance faster and easier, freeing up time for tasks that can't be automated. Let's explore several best practices for managing healthcare documents effectively.
1. Creating a document control system
The first step to effective document management for healthcare is having good document control. Document control means you have a plan in place for managing information that mitigates risk and governs document quality.
For example, by implementing policies on properly handling private patient information, you comply with your organization's various accreditation bodies, as well as your human resources department. This will protect your organization, your employees, and the patients you serve.
Quickly adjust to changing requirements
Healthcare public policy and technology is continually evolving. Effective medical document management requires adaptability in order to keep up with the ever-changing landscape.
Adaptability means updating your policies to align with changing requirements. It's much easier to update existing documents than create new ones from scratch. Storing your healthcare documents within a single repository can be a great help with this.
Rather than wrangling binders and risking updating the wrong document, you can make fast changes in a healthcare document management system. Then, you can re-distribute electronic documents via email, ask people to log into the system to read the new documents, and have your team sign off on them.
Communicate and validate
Unfortunately, aligning your documents to accreditation standards isn't enough to protect your patients from potential harm. To further mitigate risk, demonstrate compliance, and support accountability, use automated attestation to verify that staff have received, reviewed, and comprehend the new policy.
This is impossible to manage in a paper (or shared drive) environment. Instead of posting the new policy on the break room bulletin board, opt for an online document management system.
2. Establishing Robust Workflows and Security
Security is a critical part of working in hospitals and healthcare facilities – it plays a huge role in protecting your patients and, by extension, your organization. And now patient privacy is the law, which means violations and breaches can lead to civil penalties, fines, and even criminal charges.
Healthcare information management (HIM) is a rapidly growing field. As a leader in your organization, it's your role to develop strategies to ensure optimal security for your documents and patient privacy.
After you create policies around your document management process, you'll want to strategically develop workflow solutions that enforce them.
Workflows to help route and approve changes
Document management solutions are more than just vaults for securely storing your healthcare information. They include dynamic tools that allow for safe and effective collaboration as documents evolve.
In alignment with CMS conditions of participation, all clinical policies and procedures must be reviewed on a regular basis. Your organization's "policy on policies" will dictate if this occurs every 1, 2, or 3 years. This process is time-consuming, especially if you're reliant on manual processes. When you look at time spent on one document and multiply that by every document needing to be reviewed, it's clear to see why organizations frequently struggle to maintain compliance.
Fortunately, healthcare document management software can provide powerful editing tools and automated workflows to simplify these tasks.
Secure, cloud-based collaboration
Working on sensitive healthcare documents is typically a team effort, but access needs to be tailored to each person's role. With cloud-based document management software, only those with appropriate permissions can work on specific documents.
In addition, cloud-based collaboration ensures security by eliminating the need to email files back and forth. It also removes risks like accidentally overwriting or deleting documents or crashing servers, which are common with offline or in-house server-based solutions.
Always work from the most recent version
Collaboration can get messy. When you email files back and forth or work from a disorganized shared drive, there's always the possibility of someone working from an outdated document. This creates more work for everyone.
A major part of document management is keeping things as simple as possible for everyone who will work on and access your documents. That's where version control comes into play.
Version control is your ability to manage evolving versions of your critical documents. When policies need updating, for example, it means that every reviewer and approver has access to the most recent version. And when employees need to reference a procedure, it means they can only access the most updated version.
Document management software includes version control features to maintain compliance, mitigate risk, and prevent double work. It also provides peace of mind, which can be a rarity when the stakes are high and there are many moving pieces.
3. Equipping frontline workers with job-critical information
Frontline workers need instant access to job-critical information, when they need it, on any device. With old-school paper systems, this isn't possible.
Having all your documents in a centralized, digital location empowers your staff to support patients using the latest policies, procedures, and industry best practices.
Quickly access what you need
Picture a high-stakes situation in which an employee needs information, and fast. Paging through stacks of potentially outdated papers isn't just an annoyance, it's a risk.
Document management software allows users to search for what they need, much like a search engine.
When employees know they can easily find what they need, they're more likely to use your system instead of relying on memory. This can drastically reduce the risk of errors and incorrect procedures.
Access documents anytime, anywhere
You created your organization's documents to be used. What good are they if no one can find them or see them?
You can solve this problem easily by going digital. With a cloud-based solution, all your documents are quickly accessible on any device via a mobile app. This way, all the information necessary for your employees to do their jobs well is accessible anytime, anywhere.
Reduce costs by going paperless
A healthcare document management system can also benefit your organization by cutting costs. Without having to budget for paper, ink, storage, and other office supplies, you can focus your resources on more important areas.
Paperless policy management also has environmental implications. By doing your part to bring your document management efforts online, you will drastically reduce waste in your company, not to mention prevent unnecessary pollution.
