The world keeps sending me paper. I get paper from insurance companies. I get paper from specialists, I get paper form dental labs, I get paper from other dentists. I get paper from finance companies. How the heck can I have a paperless office if the world keeps sending me paper?
The answer is scan it and shred it.
The scanner allows you to digitize paper documents and then attach the documents such as patient letters, EOBs, and referral letters to the patient’s digital record. Here is how we do it in our office. When some paper arrives that should be kept in the patient record such as a follow up letter from a specialist, Laci, my office administrator opens the letter, puts it on the scanner and within seconds the letter is copied into the patient record. The original paper is then shredded. We can use this method to scan and capture x-rays and photos as well as forms and letters.
ATTENTION: Based on my experience I know right now some of the practice administrators reading this are saying to themselves, “Oh great another thing for me to do. Scan all the letters. I don’t have time for all this!” Calm down, think it through. What are you doing now with all the letters and EOBs? You open the envelope, glance through the letter, go to the file room, find the proper chart and insert the letter. That will actually take more time than scanning into the Document Center. But there is more. When the doctor needs to read the letter he or she asks for the chart and again you need to get up and search it out then take it where it is needed. The fact is scanning documents will not take more time it will save time, lots of time.
We doctors review the letter from specialist and then place them in a box for scanning where a high school student scans them into the chart with minimal training. We would like to know what you recommend for scanning xrays. We use the MICROTECH scanner. Scanning does take up alot of space on your hard drive quickly.
We use a flat bed scanner with a transparency adaptor to allow us to scan x-rays. The model #s keep changing but it is an Epson
Scanned docs do not need to be a big file, if they are taking up a lot of memory reduce the resolution, just as long as you can read it.
Anyone with a scanner can scan paper documents. It is easy to go paperless. Going “filmless” is not easy or for the novice. Getting diagonstic quality images requires training.
We digitize (scan) medical films (x-rays, MRI’S, C.T. Scans, etc.) with a
Vidar DignosticPro Advantage digitizar. Dental x-rays are digitized (scanned) with a Microtek flat bed scanner for x-rays. All digital images meet or exceed the American Radiogical Society of North America Standards. The images are 10MB’s plus depending on the size of the original film, type ( x-ray, MRI, CT) and the format (DICOM, tif., or jpeg.). Dental films are smaller and will have smaller file size.
MedTec Imaging, provides this service for physicians, hospitals, attorneys, legalsuport, nursing homes, insurance companies private patients nad other interested parties.
If you want the image quality right, you have to use the right software, hardware and have someone who is experienced.