The Path to Paperless

Scanning solutions for small practices

Buy your own or use a scanning service.

By Peter J. Polack, MD, FACS

Peter J. Polack, MD, FACS, is co-managing partner for Ocala Eye, a multisubspecialty ophthalmology practice located in Ocala, Fla. He is also founder of Emedikon, an online practice resource for physicians and administrators. He can be reached via e-mail at ppolack@ocalaeye.com

"Scanning services can be especially helpful at the beginning of a conversion to EHR.”

Although the original premise of this column was the path to a paperless office, the reality is that our world still revolves in large part around information printed onto physical documents. And even with many medical practices transitioning to EHR each year, most still have not. When correspondence is received from an “analog” practice, that paperwork must be converted to a digital format.

It is important to realize that the physical act of scanning is only part of the process of digitization of paper documents. A staff member, usually with at least a basic clinical understanding, must categorize and organize the scanned files into their proper place: within the right patient’s chart, within the right folder, and perhaps with the right tags or labels.

Scanning options

A smaller medical practice may be able to use a consumer scanner. If you have EHR, you’ll still need a way to get the scanned files into the patient records, and someone will need to put the files in their proper place. These should be sheet-fed scanners, not the flatbed type of scanners used for copying books and bulky objects; the latter would be a painfully slow way to scan paper documents. Either of the following two scanners could be a workable option.

The NeatDesk scanner. This is a nicely designed scanner with included proprietary software that can scan documents, business cards and receipts – using three separate chutes – and automatically categorize them into different folders. If you don’t want to think too much when scanning, the software can do the work for you. I found it a little too inflexible. Also, the auto image adjustment that straightens images that were scanned crooked is usually needed because the central rollers don’t consistently pull documents straight through. NeatDesk has recently added the ability to scan to Dropbox.

The Fujitsu ScanSnap ix500. This has become my scanner of choice for the home office. It always pulls documents through straight and does so quickly. Unlike the NeatDesk, it does not have separate chutes for cards and receipts, so the guides have to be adjusted manually for those. But consistently straight scans makes up for that. Another cool feature is the ability to scan directly to your phone or iPad via a wireless connection, in addition to Dropbox or e-mail. I use this device to scan every piece of paper I receive, from bills to magazine articles to receipts.

Document scanning services

For practices dealing with highvolume paperwork that needs to be scanned, a document-scanning company can be employed. They can be especially helpful at the beginning of EHR conversion, to give the practice a running start.

A service company can either simply scan paper documents into digital files or facilitate the actual conversion of paper patient charts directly into their electronic records. Some medical practices continue using their paper records and then scan them into a digital format at the end of each day, foregoing the EHR system altogether. While this is technically an electronic record of the document, realize that this is not a true electronic health record system and thus would not qualify for Meaningful Use incentive payments. OM