If your medical office or clinic has never had a medical records indexing service performed, you might not know what to expect. During the indexing process, a team of professionals with both healthcare and information technology experience will gather all of your information and set it up in a format that facilitates later retrieval. Here are three things that you need to know about what to expect during the initial medical records indexing process.
Accessing Records
Depending on the system used for the indexing, you may still be able to access your records during the process. This is important because it means that you will not have to close down your clinic or medical practice during the indexing process. Keep in mind, however, that your software might run a bit more slowly than usual if the medical records staff are accessing it at the same time as you.
New Layouts
As the information from one form of record-keeping goes into a new electronic format, you will have to get used to a new layout. This might slow you down a little when reviewing patient notes, medication history, treatment history and vital signs as you get accustomed to the new format. You might want to give more time for appointments during the process and for a short while afterward in order to give yourself and your staff enough time to get familiar with using the new layout.
Increased Efficiency
Once you get over the hump of the indexing process and the learning curve of figuring out the new layout of your patients’ medical records, you can expect an improvement in your operational efficiency. The initial stage during and just after indexing will give way to faster and improved processes. This will be most noticeable for administrative functions such as billing and generating reports. You will have streamlined processes and increased efficiency when reviewing how many active patients you have or how many procedures you performed.
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