What’s the effect of health care’s paperwork problem?
The amount of time spent on paperwork has numerous effects on both medical professionals and the patients they treat. Obviously, if a doctor is overwhelmed by paperwork, they are unable to see as many patients in a day, and they can’t spend as much time with each patient as they might otherwise. This reduces the quality of care that the patient receives.

The paperwork also has a negative effect on the doctors themselves. According to one study, the more time a physician spends on paperwork, the less satisfied they are with their jobs.
Or, to put it in simpler terms, less paperwork makes for happier doctors, which can also lead to better interactions with patients and a more satisfactory doctor-patient relationship.

Resolving issues in M-Health is also possible through document management. The Bring Your Own Device phenomenon (BYOD) pervades the health care industry, and without the proper tools in place on consumer devices like Macs and mobile phones, clinics and hospitals run the risk of compromising HIPAA compliance in both technical safeguards and privacy safeguards.

What’s the solution to health care’s paperwork problem?
The simplest solution to this overwhelming amount of paperwork is to implement document management and the use of electronic health records over paper records.

One of the reasons paperwork is so embedded into health care practices is because medical providers are so concerned with the greater purpose of their profession (helping people) that they forget to think about the other factors that would simplify that part of the equation, but this is up to hospital administrators to change.

Another reason for the existence of this problem is the academic environment most clinicians have been immersed in, in preparing for their professional lives. Academia, while well-intentioned, does not have a track record of scaling back on paper where needed.

Many practices have done this already, and they have seen some incredible results. 79% of them reported that their practice functioned more efficiently overall. For instance, health care practitioners must know they can solve the issues of their industry through technology that has the potential to serve as the industry’s lifeblood.

The amount of time saved was quite remarkable as well, with 82% reporting that they saved time by using electronic prescriptions, and 75% reporting that they received lab results more quickly. As an added bonus, 70% of the practices that implement electronic health records reported that the confidentiality of their data was improved by it.

More Industry Headlines