Paperless Hospitals: How Digitization Improves Healthcare Quality

The traditional healthcare model involves in-person meetings between the patient and the care professional, with medical equipment and tools. It’s common for patients to sit in the clinic or hospital lobby for a couple of hours while waiting for their turn.

Although this scene is still prevalent at many clinical services, technology has changed healthcare delivery over the years. Technological innovations allowed hospitals and private practices to improve their processes, which results in better patient care.

The traditional healthcare model places the responsibility of recovery and wellness on the patient, which is why they only seek medical attention as a remedial, not preventative, solution. But by adopting technology, healthcare firms can shift from a pay-for-service care model to one that is more patient-centric.

One way to do so is by going paperless.

Digitization for Healthcare

Technological integration isn’t new in the healthcare industry. But surprisingly, many clinics and hospitals still use paper-based data collection methods. New patients fill out forms at the reception, doctors write prescriptions to be given to the pharmacist, and medical professionals file and record patient information through tall stacks of documents.

These papers accumulate a wealth of data, which healthcare firms can use to discover insights that can improve patient experience, satisfaction, and overall outcomes. But data mining is difficult and resource-intensive to perform on paper. This is where digitization comes in.

With paper-based data collection, the documents don’t provide any value unless someone manually enters the data into a computer. This can be a time-consuming activity. With digitization, data collection can become a more efficient and streamlined process. Applications and software can automatically sort your data and make it ready for analysis. It frees up workers’ schedules and gives them more time to focus on other tasks.

Going paperless offers the following benefits to healthcare organizations:

1. Optimized data analysis

Making the shift from paper to digital allows hospitals and clinics to immediately access and pull specific data sets from reports. They can spot trends over time for a particular patient, a population, or a location. This information can help hasten one person’s recovery or even avoid a public health crisis.

With digitization, these insights are discovered in real-time, allowing healthcare firms to respond to changes quickly, and ultimately, drive better outcomes. It can take days to uncover these insights through paper-based methods, delaying the hospital’s response to make meaningful improvements.

Plus, technologies such as electronic health records (EHR) software and other smart medical programs can improve overall efficiency. Illegible handwritten patient information and misfiles are common in paper-based data management and analysis. Eliminating manual labor when handling data means fewer opportunities for human error. This results in more accurate reports, which can provide better insights.

1. Enhanced data security

Paperwork can be easily misplaced, lost, or stolen, compromising patients’ health information and creating liability issues. Also, some hospital employees might accidentally access records they’re not allowed to see.

When your practice goes digital, you can strengthen the security of your data. Digital records can be encrypted, so only those who know the password can access the information.

The healthcare industry is a frequent target of cybersecurity attacks. This is why digital forms are structured to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), ensuring that data can be stored, transferred, and received safely.

Healthcare firms often work with a managed IT service to fortify their data security measures. Various methods can be tailored for healthcare clients, including improved firewalls, malware protection, and offsite storage.

1. Better patient experience

Apart from improving your workflow and processes, digitization has plenty of benefits for your patients. The admission process involves desk-to-desk hand-offs, prolonging patient wait times. This can negatively impact your image as a healthcare provider because patients hate waiting for long periods in hospitals.

Also, long wait times means delaying the delivery of essential treatments and medical services, affecting your operational efficiency.

Digitization can improve your patient experience. You can make necessary paperwork available on your website, such as new patient and insurance forms. This allows patients to fill them out before going to the hospital, making their admission faster.

Medical software, such as patient portals and e-prescribing tools, also creates a more pleasant patient experience. They can view their medical history, medication list, appointment schedule, and more affordable prescription options using their smartphone or computer. They don’t have to go to your hospital and clinic, which prevents crowded reception areas and long waiting times.

1. Efficient and collaborative patient care

Lastly, going paperless can increase the quality of your care. First, digitized health records are accessible to patients. They can review their medical treatment plan without having to contact their physician. This easy access can improve their self-management and keep them on track on their recovery journey, boosting patient outcomes.

Also, switching to digital files encourages collaboration among healthcare professionals and between hospitals. Doctors can access a patient’s medical records in just a few clicks instead of sifting through stacks of papers.

Some digital storage, like cloud-based networks, offers a single access point for patient information. This means doctors and nurses can view documents simultaneously to collaborate and consult with each other regarding a patient’s status in real-time.

Digitization makes patient transfers easier, too. For example, a hospital lacks the equipment to treat a patient, requiring a transfer to another healthcare facility. The patient, along with their medical records, can easily be brought over to the new hospital without the hassle of dealing with paperwork.

These digitization applications show that healthcare firms can evolve from the traditional care model to meet the increasing demand for quick, quality patient care. Health technologies help you improve your healthcare delivery – workflow, processes, patient experience – allowing you to shift from a pay-based to a patient-oriented care model.