Image Data, Inc. - Document and Data Archiving, Scanning, Management

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Targeting Records Management Challenges for Law Enforcement

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Targeting Records Management Challenges for Law Enforcement: 

Police officers, sheriffs, corrections officers and other law enforcement agencies operate a very unique type of organization with workflows that are apart from other categories of administrative functions. Why is that? With every crime committed, clear records need to be created to ensure accurate documentation for effective, viable prosecution and, if needed, for future investigations. In addition, law enforcement agencies are often the custodians of many types of registration records that are maintained.

Spotlight on Firearms Registrations

An effective firearms registration system is vital to tracking what guns are legally on the street as well as the provenance of recovered stolen guns. For many years, firearms bureaus around the country kept hardcopy registration forms for firearms. Over time, these records archives become unwieldy and prone to disorganization, making it potentially impossible to find a vital gun record in a timely manner in the midst of a criminal investigation for example. Additionally, the paper records were prone to environmental hazards like water damage and the risk of fire, not to mention theft or destruction. Without an automatic backup, the risks in using such legacy document management practices are too great given what’s at stake.

Massachusetts recently learned the hard way that improperly processed state lab tests resulted in the release of hundreds of previously indicted criminals. So too can records like gun registrations make or break a case potentially letting a dangerous criminal go back on the street.

1172422_59277168Scalable, State of the Art Solutions

To tackle these paper-related challenges and liabilities, local and state law enforcement organizations are turning to Image Data, a document and data management company, to convert card indexes and filing systems to an electronic format that is accessible by a range of users.

This type of project unique to law enforcement involves scanning and indexing hundreds of thousands of records. By creating a tailored services solution that leverages image, COLD and ICR-based data streams, along with an intuitive, easy to use web experience, users can search and retrieve records quickly and easily.

This type of process seems daunting and unachievable for many agencies. Image Data takes the worry out of the process and delivers results by using a high quality conversion process coupled with a highly-trained secure staff to handle sensitive records like gun registrations. Not merely an on-screen version of microform, Image Data actually puts the old forms to work. How? The team captures images of the actual forms and then extracts data from them so that each image has a corresponding electronic record with all vital information. Now, all that data that previously required manual searching is almost as easy to retrieve as a Google search.

Forward Looking Access

With a fully converted archive of records and a system that makes it easy to create and maintain new records, a law enforcement agency can dramatically expand the ease of access to records. Here are some examples of what an Image Data-based document management solution can enable:

  • Officers on a call can look up records by address to determine if any guns are associated with the home.
  • In the judicial system, the possession of a gun can be quickly researched and verified for consideration in cases like restraining order requests, probation violations, or other court actions.
  • With stolen guns where a serial number may have been partially removed, search capabilities are robust enough to “work with what you have” to find possible matches.
  • Using the data in the system, “big data” analytics can be performed with variables such as gun manufacturer, model and caliber, to identify trends and demographics that could shed light on organized or gang criminal activity.
  • Inquiries from ancillary parties like the media or academic research organizations can be managed quickly and without impacting overall productivity.
  • Records for guns returned from increasingly popular gun buyback programs can be quickly updated as “off the street.”

Since the system is accessible online, some agencies are taking the next step and implementing search tools on mobile platforms. As a result, no matter where a law enforcement agent is, the answer to a gun record question is only a few swipes away on a smartphone or tablet. Records are also available with redundant access and backups, ensuring that the data is always there 24/7, anytime/anywhere.

Of course, firearms records are only one example of the commonly used records systems that law enforcement currently use. The scope of solutions that Image Data supports is comprehensive and scalable, ensuring today’s decisions and investments are poised to grow with an agency’s future.

 

To learn more about Image Data’s solutions for law enforcement, contact us today.

Look where we’ll be this February and March!

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Image Data is participating in the following conferences and hope you’ll stop by our booth for suggestions on how we can help convert your paper and film records:

 

Feb 16-18

Association of Towns of the State of New York, 2014 Training School and Annual Meeting

Hilton New York, New York City

 

Feb 16-18

New York Sheriffs Association Annual Winter Training Conference for Sheriffs

Desmond Hotel, Albany

 

We’ll also be participating at the upcoming AIIM conference:

March 30 – April 3

AIIM Annual Conference

Orlando, FL

 

Find Image Data on Facebook & Twitter

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Yes, now you can connect directly with Image Data on Facebook and Twitter.

Visit https://www.facebook.com/ImageData and Like our page. Please share it with colleagues and networking contacts who routinely need critical document and data imaging services.

Plus, get updates from Image Data 140 characters at a time on Twitter. Follow us here: https://twitter.com/ImageDataInc

We look forward to connecting with you through your organization’s favorite social media networks!

Bridging the Gap Between EHR / EMR Implementations and Paper Patient Records

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Scanning Documents for Hospitals & Healthcare Institutions
Tackling Paper Documents in Healthcare Institutions in the age of the EHR

A short time after I moved to my present town outside Albany, back around 2005, I decided to find a primary care physician that was local. After consulting my insurance’s directory of providers, I booked an appointment with a doctor about ten minutes away. When I first visited, I was shocked and frankly a little alarmed to discover that not one computer was present–in 2005. There wasn’t even a relic of a beige tower with curved-screen CRT by its side.

Instead, there was, in a prominent location, a typewriter (IBM Selectric — with “the ball”) on a classic, steel-gray, wheeled typewriter cart. Behind the main counter, I could see a doorway that revealed a wall of files with a chaotic rainbow of color coded tabs that seemed to run to the other end of the building. “That is a lot of paper,” I thought. When I received my handwritten, triplicate co-pay receipt, I then thought, “I bet there is a lot of cursive writing in that file room!” In fact, everything there was still being done manually, via fax, via mail, via typewriter and triplicates. Only eight years ago.

True, some years have passed and there have been some dramatic changes since then. The issue remains however that in healthcare organizations as small as this suburban doctor’s office to multi-site hospital systems in major metropolitan areas, the migration to electronic patient records has been slow. The US government’s $35 billion “meaningful use” programs to incentivize healthcare organizations to adopt electronic health records (EHR or EMR for electronic medical records) has accelerated the adoption rate. Still, there remains a Grand Canyon-wide chasm between (A) new patient records that are created today on systems like Cerner, Epic, McKesson, Siemens, Meditech or other EHR vendors and (B) the existing volumes of paper, offline records for some of the very same patients who are coming in today and having a new, separate EHR file created.

For patients, myself included, trying to retrieve paper patient records that were beyond a certain age can now require a records request with a third party records management vendor that keeps patient records stored somewhere in a file box, on a shelf, in a remote warehouse. That request process usually took several days making a negative impact on the overall “quality of administrative care” for the patient. (In my case, it turned into a rabbit hole. Despite the efforts of a prominent records management company, my records at a former PCP were found in the third facility they checked — three tries!)

In some cases, IT vendors are bridging the old and the new in innovative ways. For example, in the Capital region, document imaging vendor Image Data works with small to large healthcare organizations to smooth the transition to digital and to make it as seamless as possible. Working with administrators and IT leaders like CMIOs and other medical informatics and healthcare IT leaders, they evaluate tailored processes to scan and index paper patient records for online access.

The end result is that the shelves and shelves of patient records maintained at a 3rd party location, can be replaced by a secure browser window where thousands upon thousands of records of multiple formats can be searched and retrieved from the cloud, to be displayed on-screen in the universally familiar format. Additionally, many documents with typed or printed text can be indexed so that searching can be done within the document. If a hard copy is ever needed for an immediate request, it’s only as far away as a click on a print icon.

Image Data CEO and co-founder, Tom Bourke talks about what this means for healthcare leaders that are eager to innovate, “Over and above the strategic necessity of these types of document imaging projects that we’re seeing parallel the implementation of EHR systems, there is a peace of mind the hospital secures that is priceless.”

Bourke emphasizes, “The confidence and peace of mind they can offer patients that they are being responsible stewards of contiguous patient care histories, even in the midst of implementations of vast EHR solutions, truly honors what’s at the core of the mission of today’s technology-adept hospitals and healthcare systems. And, considering the comparatively small cost to implement a document management project compared to the multi-million-dollar EHR implementations we’re seeing today, it’s an easy decision.”

Depending on a site’s configuration, doctors and clinicians can also take patient archive searches on the go, browsing for records via app or browser on their smartphone, iPad(R) or other tablet.

Some hospitals, working with document imaging and management vendors like Image Data want to make a tighter connection between their scanned paper records and their EHR. With more sophisticated IT development, there are instances where records from a year ago, or a decade ago can be retrieved directly within the EHR.

For clinicians and healthcare administrators, fewer clicks to the right record can mean a faster answer to a patient question, a better diagnosis, fewer unnecessary tests, and lower operational costs. The ROI of a migration from reliance on paper records management vendors to a virtual, turnkey, online document management solution is discovered in every moment there is a need to review a history and the costly time meter starts ticking before a record is delivered, before a clinical decision is made or while healing is held-up by a paperwork request.

Healthcare technology is a progressive, forward looking space. But, the most sagest CMIOs and HCIT leaders have discovered that preserving the capability to look backwards, principally when it comes to a patient’s history, must be a key element in the march forward toward better care.

A Welcoming Environment: Document Imaging & Management in Senior Housing

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senior housing records and documentsFor quite some time, a close relative worked as the admissions and marketing director for a prominent rehabilitation hospital for seniors in the Capital area. The hospital was one of many parts of the continuum of resources that help ensure health, community, care, and housing for the elderly in the region. During her time there, she learned the intricacies of client admissions and financial obligations; varying scenarios of healthcare and “assisted living” requirements; and so much more. She gives a lot of credit to the sons and daughters of parents who are thrust into the often distressing process of moving a loved one to a new home with the support and care they need — often unexpectedly.

Part of that challenge arises from typically very-involved admissions processes. Documents are required from the family and a range of third parties, related to health and financial data. Adding to the complexity is the involvement of paperwork and processes related to government programs including Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security Disability.

The end result was that each patient or resident had a rapidly filling folder with an amalgam of paperwork coupled with sometimes entrenched workflows. For example, a clinician filled out the goldenrod questionnaire and the social worker filled out the “pink sheet” as they came to be known over the years, and so on, and so forth. Once a client is admitted, as potentially-auditable records of care subject, the files for each patient grow and grow with inputs from across departments.

Making sense of this array of sometimes dis-contiguous records can be daunting for a senior housing facility to manage on their own. For independent living, assisted living, dementia care, Alzheimer’s facilities, rehabilitation hospitals, nursing homes, and newer, continuum of care facilities, each has unique document management challenges. Unfortunately, for many, most if not all of a client’s record is still managed with paper documents.

Tom Bourke, Image Data CEO and co-founder, talks about how he helps senior housing facilities, “We have discovered that paper-based document management can affect productivity and cost-efficiencies at senior housing sites by 5-8%. Think about it, over the course of a year, is an administration spending upwards of a month’s equivalent of time creating, storing, retrieving, copying, and updating paper records, or compensating for a poorly coordinated combination of paper and electronic? And, are costs compounded by third party vendors for off-site paper records management?”

Bourke offers a different view: “There is a solution that can drastically improve the efficiency, accuracy and effectiveness of how files for both clients and operations/administration are handled. Today’s document management solutions transform access to existing records and make it easier than ever to integrate them with related records that are constantly-created  — both paper and electronic — from various parts of an organization in real time. Browser-based access means there is no need for special software. Browser-based access means administrators can access records on the go via smartphone, iPad, or tablet.”

As the pressure mounts to be more cost-effective, it pays to have a solution in place that ensures no delays in billing or care arise from a lost or misdirected document. And, at audit time, having an online resource for all essential documents that is searchable and indexed helps you provide answers more quickly and easily.

And for members of clients’ families, the more organized approach makes a positive impression — whether it is in a prompt response to an email from a client’s daughter with a PDF of a needed document, or in an easier, better organized  admissions process (when compared to a competing site) . They can feel confident they’re entrusting a loved one to an organization that is committed to operating efficiently so that the focus remains on care.

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Image Data's team approach to client relationships yields high marks in customer satisfaction for initial needs assessment, implementation and ongoing service. Image Da … [Read More]

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