Any “level” of OCR based document processing solution will likely bring your organization to a better place operationally. Yes, I said it. Any. Here’s my message behind the message … pick the software level that optimizes your present workflow and positions you best for future workflows and enterprise coverage. My hope is that this blog helps you to visualize what that might look like.
If you’re not already using an automation solution, even the lowest level of software will improve upon your present manual workflows. If you’re thinking about a solution, the question you need to seek an answer to is, “What level of performance best meets our present needs and future goals?”
In a perfectly interoperable world, there would be no need to even have this conversation. However, healthcare has not reached full interoperability nirvana. Yes, an understatement. More and more health systems are realizing that there are partial solutions available that will benefit them.
There are three levels of software solutions in the healthcare market:
Level 1: Software with automated indexing and classifying and manual abstraction of date of service (DOS) and identification of sub doc descriptors
Level 2: Software with automated indexing and classifying and automated abstraction of DOS and identification of sub doc description
Level 3: Software with automated indexing and classifying and automated abstraction of DOS and identification of sub doc description as well as automated abstraction of discrete data where needed (i.e. laboratory, accounts payable, etc.)
All these solutions fit somewhere between a completely manual process and a completely interoperable process.
Level 1:
If you’re looking for the lowest cost software solution and you’re not concerned with manually entering document identifiers like DOS and Sub Doc Descriptors or you are not entering them at all, a level 1 software solution is applicable.
Benefits:
Lowest purchase price
If DOS and Sub Doc Descriptors are not being entered, it will have the fastest processing rates
Detractions:
If DOS and or sub document descriptors are needed for part or all the document volume, staff optimization is not met (so FTE costs are higher) because there is still a need to manually enter DOS and sub document descriptors or
If the DOS and sub document descriptors go un-entered, they will not be part of the link that identifies the document in the EMR. This places a greater burden on the providers to identify the document they are looking for.
Level 2:
If you’re looking to optimize your staff and to support your providers’ document search with classification, DOS, and Sub Document Descriptors available on the document’s indexed EMR link, a level 2 software solution is applicable.
Benefits:
Peak staff optimization is met as DOS and sub document descriptors are automatically determined
Little to no manual entry for your staff
The burden of complicated document search in the EMR by your providers is lifted
Capture and accuracy rates go up
Supports a lean process for HIM type OCR based document processing
Detractions:
A nominal slowing of document throughput compared to no DOS abstraction and no identification of Sub Document Descriptors. However, it is more than offset by the burden of complicated document search in the EMR by your providers being lifted.
Cost per page will be higher than a level 1 software solution. The value (and savings) resides in the staff’s overall optimization.
Level 3:
If you’re looking for an enterprise solution where you can deploy level 1 where needed, level 2 where needed, and/or software where automated discrete data abstraction (i.e. Labs, Accounts Payable, Patient History, etc.) is needed then level 3 software is a applicable.
Benefits:
Burden of complicated document search in the EMR by your providers is lifted
Provider burden of trying to make sense of discrete data on a single document is lifted
Capture and accuracy rates go up
Peak staff optimization is made possible in any and every department as DOS, sub document descriptors and or discrete data are automatically abstracted
Supports a lean process for any OCR document processing
Highly scalable; start in HIM and roll out to other departments as warranted
One vendor, one interface to your EMR for the entire enterprise
Detractions:
Longer implementation time than level 2 or level three because there are more workflows to take into consideration.
As I said, any “level” of OCR based document processing solution will likely bring your organization to a better place operationally. However, picking the software level that optimizes your present workflow and positions you best for future workflows and enterprise optimization is likely to make your ongoing operations less complicated. Avoiding multiple OCR based vendor solutions or replacing an original choice with a more capable solutions as your needs or your enterprise focus changes.
I’d be happy to explain the specific benefits your organization could expect to receive at each level. Please send me an email and we’ll connect at your earliest convenience.
About the Author: Norm Kruse
Norm is a Business Development Manager with experience in HealthCare and Telecommunications technologies. He earned his BS – Business Administration at Winona State University and his MBA – IT Concentration at the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota. Technology applied to workflow design is a focused area of interest.