Goes Paperless-Saves Thousands And Prepares for HIPAA Compliance

Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, winner of the 2002 Louisiana Performance Excellence Award for Quality Leadership, has eliminated paper in several major departments. The billing department no longer sifts through boxes and files for EOBs, photocopies of insurance cards and patient referrals hoping to submit claims for payment. Today, each of the twenty billing clerks logs into the LaserFiche Document Imaging System provided by JPI Data Resource of Baton Rouge, LA and simply searches for the digital images online. There are no photocopies of insurance cards because the nine admit personnel are equipped with card scanners to capture the cards digitally as the patients are admitted. Bonnie Loker, Billing Supervisor for T.R.M.C., says productivity is up and AR days are down due to this system. New desks now reside where boxes of paper used to be. "Due to financial restraints we have a cap on hiring so we have to get more work done with fewer people. The LaserFiche solution from JPI DR solved this problem for us."

In other departments, such as Accounting, historical documents like invoices are no longer microfilmed; they are now scanned and indexed into the LaserFiche system. Each of the accounting clerks is now able to search these images without leaving her desk.

Like many hospitals, T.R.M.C. employs more than six hundred people. This equates to a lot of files to store. Employee files are now being scanned for storage, search and retrieval. In addition, required paper like W2's are being scanned for archival purposes honoring the legal retention of these documents.

Terry Evans, the Chief Information Officer, claims that the LaserFiche software is a true asset to the hospital. Not only is it user friendly, but it also requires virtually no administration from the IT department. "JPI DR configured, installed and trained all users on the LaserFiche System. The whole process did not involve resources from our IT department", says Evans. Because it uses the Microsoft SQL database, Mr. Evans is planning several integration projects linking LaserFiche to other vital databases used by the hospital.

When you consider the legal requirements of HIPAA mandating verifiable access to all patient files, a digital solution with an Audit Trail report is simply the only way to comply. Coupled with the cost savings in employee time, space and reduction in copying expenses, the solution can pay for itself in a matter of months.