21 Mar Streamlined Record Retrieval
If your firm is wasting time and money on traditional medical records retrieval, it’s time to consider a more centralized, tech-forward approach.
Streamlined record retrieval simplifies the entire retrieval process, helping organizations reduce turnaround times and operational costs. By standardizing workflows and leveraging innovative technology, streamlined record retrieval allows legal and insurance teams to improve efficiency and scalability. Here’s how.
What Streamlined Record Retrieval Means for Businesses
While healthcare providers have varying requirements, the overall process of retrieving medical records involves repetitive tasks: determining the records needed and the relevant physician or hospital to contact, submitting a formal request, tracking the request and following up as needed, and ensuring the received records are accurate and stored securely.
When it comes to medical record retrieval for lawyers and insurance professionals, streamlining the process ideally entails:
- Identifying the current procedures being used
- Defining a new workflow based on best practices
- Vetting external retrieval vendors
- Investigating and employing useful tech tools
- Establishing training and instructions that support consistency across teams
Taking these steps can help reduce divergence and complexity throughout the process, eliminate unnecessary work (like follow-up calls), and accelerate access to critical records.
The Cost of Inefficient Retrieval Processes
A scattered approach to record retrieval results in inefficiencies that impact case outcomes and claims cycles. Without standardization and centralization, law firms and insurance teams often grapple with:
- Delays – Because of the lack of visibility, manual requests can easily fall through the cracks, leading to increased turnaround times. Delays can also occur if requests are missing signatures or other important information.
- Duplicate work – Streamlining includes establishing roles and clear communication, eliminating work duplication in research, relationship building, template creation, and the nitty-gritty of submitting requests and checking on status.
- High administrative overhead – In the best-case scenario, a records request is completed and submitted accurately. The reality, however, is that follow-up and request re-submittal are often required, and more administrative work hours than anticipated are spent chasing down records manually.
Whether it’s due to delays, duplicate work, or high administrative overhead (or all three), manual records retrieval processes are often a financial burden.
Key Components of a Streamlined Record Retrieval Process
Streamlining your medical records retrieval solutions is easier than you think. All you need are a few key components:
- A standardized workflow –The only variance in retrieval workflows should be related to differing request requirements among healthcare providers—not how requests are assigned, submitted, overseen, and audited by your team. Using the same tech and steps ensures that knowledge is accessible to everyone, that work can easily proceed during staff turnover, and that time isn’t wasted.
- Centralized tracking – Getting an update on a request status should never require an endless back and forth of calls or emails. A streamlined request process includes centralized communications and status tracking, automated notifications, and a 24/7 cloud-based system that anyone can access for real-time updates. The efficiency and visibility of centralized tracking is why more than 73% of healthcare organizations rely on cloud-based systems for their medical records.
- Digital document intake – Today, more than 96% of U.S. hospitals send digital files. Eliminating paper copies of medical records closes the loop on multiple areas of security and compliance concerns. Leveraging software that automates text and file conversion within a unified annotation and storage system also supports organization and efficiency.
By combining these elements, you can streamline and optimize your operations.
How Streamlining Improves Operational Efficiency
Converting tedious work from manual approaches into an organization-wide workflow that leverages technology and automation is a tremendous leap forward in operational efficiency. Your organization can experience:
- Improved accuracy – Streamlining your retrieval workflow with a digitized request tracking system offers greater transparency, oversight, and clarity, reducing the likelihood of errors and the need for resubmissions.
- Faster turnaround – Leveraging a single, best-practice-based workflow allows you to identify the process, tools, and vendor(s) best suited to provide timely fulfillment.
- Better resource allocation – A streamlined process keeps your team members focused on more valuable and strategic work, rather than on time-consuming admin tasks.
- Performance standardization – Relying on a single individual for records requests, no matter how stable, doesn’t account for inevitable turnover or even days off. With automation, you have a system that survives staff changes or updates without missing a beat.
Streamline Retrieval to Scale Your Operations
A streamlined approach to records retrieval provides countless efficiency gains, reducing administrative overhead, duplicative work efforts, and delays. The result is a workflow that benefits your organization, as well as your clients.
Finding the right partner can help you get the jump on streamlining improvements. American Retrieval offers the fastest turnaround times and best rates in the medical record retrieval services industry, with a focus on HIPAA-compliant technology integrations for law firms and insurance companies.
Find out more about how we can support streamlined record retrieval that improves the speed, accuracy, and cost control of your retrieval needs.
Sources:
TechTarget. Understanding Cloud-Based EHR Platforms and Their Benefits. https://www.techtarget.com/searchhealthit/feature/Understanding-Cloud-Based-EHR-Platforms-and-Their-Benefits
Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Better Health Enabled by Data. https://healthit.gov/
