Whilst switching to a paperless office can appear daunting at first, there are many benefits that make the choice a simple one, especially when you have the help and support of a dedicated team with years of experience in the field.
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Cost, Cost, Cost!
Ever wondered how much your files are costing you? You might be surprised at how much you can save by going paperless.
An average* surgery will spend approximately $ 150,000 a year in wages paid to receptionists.
In an average* surgery approximately 30% of receptionists time is spent retrieving, replacing or adding to patient files.
This equates to a massive $ 45,000 a year being spent just to maintain patient files.
Minimise lost and misfiled documents
With paper records, each time a document is used, there is a risk that it may be misfiled making it substantially harder to find in the future. In a paperless system, various constraints can be imposed to help ensure documents find their way into the correct location. In the event that an electronic copy of a document is stored in the wrong spot, it is still possible to locate the misfiled document, usually quicker than a correctly filed paper based document.
If, for example, a letter was accidentally stored in the wrong patient's file but you could remember a distinct phrase of text, it would be possible to perform a search to locate the missing document quickly and efficiently.
* Based on a typical 3 - 7 fulltime doctor equivalent surgery.
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Space
As your business grows, space is often found to be at a premium. In an average* surgery the space occupied by patient files doubles every 5 years.
Once a patient file reaches a certain size, practices often archive older correspondence leading to related documents being stored in different physical locations. This can not only make them more time consuming to track down but can also restrict you from seeing the whole picture.
Once paperless, the areas previously used for document storage are free to start making you money.
Data Portability
Once in electronic format, it becomes possible to securely access documents from remote locations. This opens up the possibility to telecommute. For example, a doctor could work on care plans for patients without having to travel to the practice, or write up clinical notes while performing a home visit.
Electronic documents also make it easy to share documents between different physical locations if your business has multiple locations.
Data Security
Paper based documents are susceptible to fire, water, theft and other damage. With robust offsite backup procedures your data will survive even if your office doesn't!
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