Medical facilities have traditionally relied on premises-based electronic medical records and electronic health records (EMR/EHR) systems to centralize the storage, accessibility, and security of patient information. But as hospitals increasingly incorporate patient data and documents into a single EHR, they are turning to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solutions to reduce costs and streamline efficiencies.
Ensure Compliance
Healthcare facilities were initially relatively slow to adopt IaaS because of concerns about security and regulatory compliance. HIPAA regulations cover patient records that healthcare providers print, copy, fax, and email every day, so you need to have systems in place to protect patient privacy and prevent unauthorized access to any confidential patient information.
The security of paper documents and online records is tightly coupled with how rigorously healthcare providers have integrated HIPAA compliance into daily processes for managing patient health information. Are your organization’s paper and digital information workflows as secure as they could be? IaaS vendors increasingly provide integrated solutions that offer a better way to manage and monitor sharing of healthcare documents; and the ability to deliver proven and compliant processes should be a key requirement in vendor selection.
We work closely with IaaS providers to evaluate their capabilities, and our Document Security solutions range from those that control device functionality to those that secure every aspect of your paper and electronic document workflows. By implementing proven processes that protect patient information, you can ensure compliance while reducing the cost and improving the availability of accessing EMR/EHR information.
Create Efficient Workflows
Content management is a key part of an EMR/EHR project. The goal is to enable physicians and other clinicians to seamlessly access patient information from computers and mobile devices. The ability of an IaaS provider to enable efficient workflows should also be a major factor in vendor selection. One popular approach is to determine which paper-based or unstructured data doctors and nurses need immediately, and which can be accessed digitally within 24 hours.
Organizations can then outline a workflow process in which documents are scanned according to priority to optimize IaaS storage resources. With patient information stored in EMR/EHR systems and automated workflows in place, healthcare facilities can also efficiently and securely route information to departments such as finance to decrease receivables and increase revenue.
For example, through our Electronic Health Records service, we can help you evaluate and select an IaaS provider that can help you secure and automate your EMR/EHR systems. We can also help you identify and implement solutions that capture patient data more quickly than paper forms, put critical information in the hands of clinicians when and where they need it, and improve operational efficiency and quality of care.
Kurt Hildebrand
Kurt has over 20 years of experience in storage, networking, virtualization, clustering, disaster recovery, and business consulting. He holds several professional certifications, including Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator (CCEA), Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Certified Novell Engineer (CNE), EMC Certified Integration Engineer (EMCIE), Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE), VMware Certified Professional (VCP). In his free time, Kurt enjoys strategy games, the outdoors, theater, and live music.
