At ScanSTAT, we frequently talk with practice administrators and office managers who are fed up with this situation and would love to make it go away. Then we tell them there’s an easy solution, and all it takes is their current EMR platform and a relationship with a remote records service, like ScanSTAT. That’s when their eyes get bigger and they say, “What?…You’re joking! I had no idea release of information was something we could offload.”
The reality is most practices are aware that when they go live on an EMR, it changes medical records workflows. However, what most practices don’t know is with an EMR also comes the opportunity for offloading the release of information (ROI) burden to remote third parties. Going live on an EMR gives medical practices a way to outsource their medical records department workflows and improve the clinic in a variety of ways. Using a secure connection, remote records service companies can directly access your EMR in a 100% HIPAA compliant manner and complete the records fulfillment on your behalf…fulfilling requests more quickly to free up your staff up for more important things.
Top Reasons To Offload Release of Information
After speaking with so many practices who’ve overcome release of information challenges in their offices, we’ve compiled the top reasons why they have chosen to outsource their release of information workflows:
- Happier Patients – When remote third parties take on the task of release of information, your staff is freed up to spend more time focused on patient-related activities. More attention often means happier patients. Furthermore, because requests are filled within 24 hours and the status is updated in your EMR for staff members to check anytime, patients spend less time on hold when they call in to follow up about the request.
- Fewer Phone Calls – Whether the patients themselves or another party is requesting the release for PHI, third party services can fulfill the request within 24 hours. That means fewer calls coming in inquiring about the status of records requests – freeing up phone lines at your practice.
- Cost Savings – In nearly all cases, practices are not billed for release of information fulfillment by third party ROI services. Instead the requestor is billed, meaning there is no cost to the practice for using this service. Furthermore, practices find they can eliminate the time and expense of training and re-training records staff on HIPAA compliant ROI workflows, and even significantly reduce FTE and HR expenses by offloading ROI tasks to a remote records service.
- Less Risk – If not correctly performed, release of information is an activity that can place your practice at risk of a HIPAA violation if not done correctly. Using a remote records service transfers HIPAA liability away from your practice and onto the Business Associate fulfilling the request.
- Increased EMR Value – Leveraging your EMR for something other than just storing patient records brings more value from your investment in this technology platform, and in turn, brings a bigger return for your practice.
We know the decision to offload records fulfillment tasks to a third party are not one that intelligent practice managers make overnight. So talk to a practice that has already made the switch to outsourced ROI services, or have a conversation with someone at ScanSTAT about removing unnecessary records administration burdens. It will not only help you sleep better at night, but it’ll also make you look like a rock star at your practice!