As healthcare data mushrooms and organizations grapple with reduced staff, geographically dispersed documents, outdated information, heightened cybersecurity threats, greater compliance requirements, and a world where faster is better, it’s critical for healthcare professionals to leverage a document management software (DMS) solution to handle these evolving complexities. This streamlined tool integrates with current technology platforms to provide secure, permissioned access to the data—and features essential collaboration tools that help healthcare professionals provide the best health outcomes possible.
DMS solutions were built specifically to increase accessibility and collaboration by allowing healthcare professionals across departments to create, upload, store, organize, print, share, and analyze the large volume of data generated every day. There are a number of ways in which DMS is uniquely equipped to do this:
Guarantees Secure Access: It’s imperative that healthcare organizations strive for the highest security in every interaction, as they work to protect patient privacy, meet compliance standards, and safeguard their systems and medical equipment against ransomware and other malicious cyber attacks. DMS solutions feature robust security features to safeguard sensitive patient data, including strong access control, encryption, secure sharing capabilities, and more.
Serves as One Repository: Healthcare facilities with different locations sometimes house patient forms and information on local hard drives, making it difficult for all locations to access. With the rise of remote work and telemedicine, it’s especially important to create a centralized repository for this information. DMS consolidates all data assets in one location, connecting all teams and giving permissioned parties access to their applicable documents and data. Cloud-based DMS can be accessed through any secure device at any time. This saves significant time and money and also fosters more efficient accessibility and collaboration.
Related: Adapting to Remote Work in Healthcare.
Enables Easy Document Sharing: A centralized system makes it simple to share documents across the organization. Administrators can set varying permission levels so users can safely retrieve, view, edit, print, share, and more. This heightened real-time collaboration among team members is critical to patient care. Having access to medical records, test results, treatment plans, prescriptions, and other salient information vastly improves health outcomes. With an up-to-date, comprehensive and accessible medical picture, professionals are better informed and can make better medical decisions.
Provides Version Control: It’s difficult to ascertain which document is the most up-to-date when varying versions are scattered throughout different devices. Compliance regulations require the latest version of forms, so it can be easy to fall into violation. Healthcare document management software solutions are equipped with data control capabilities to ensure these mistakes do not happen. The software displays all document changes with a timeline. It also allows all users to view older versions, but work with the latest one.
Covers Compliance: Since healthcare organizations must be laser focused on data management compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), DMS solutions help by providing access controls and audit trails, including a record of any document changes, capturing which person made them—and when. With this information instantly available, any problems in the workflow can be identified and addressed right away, ensuring organizations stay compliant.
Related: Navigating Compliance Challenges in Healthcare Documentation.
DMS solutions are designed to facilitate accessibility and collaboration through these specialized capabilities. With seamless integration, secure access, a single repository, document automation, easy document sharing, version control, and compliance capabilities, this technology helps healthcare professionals manage their patients’ comprehensive records to deliver the most effective care possible. DigiDoc can help your organization simplify the growing complexities in healthcare management and streamline access and collaboration for all users. Contact us today to request a demo.