Bayou Pathology Increases Efficiency, Productivity, and Accuracy with a Paperless Practice Management Solution
In order to serve a growing client base and fulfill strict record retention guidelines, Bayou Pathology implemented a paperless document imaging system that interfaces with their practice management system. As a result, Bayou Pathology has improved customer service, streamlined workflow, and increased staff productivity. That solution, a combination of Companion Technologies’ Practice Management application and Optical Image Technology (OIT), Inc.’s DocFinity® software suite, has resulted in a nearly paperless office and has almost paid for itself within one year.
An accumulation of paper
Bayou Pathology, an independent anatomic pathology laboratory based in West Monroe, Louisiana, processes and diagnoses specimens for doctors. The lab serves fifteen rural and urban hospitals, as well as approximately three hundred physicians’ offices within a tri-state area, and has been in business since 1976. As the practice has grown, so too has the volume of paper kept on file. “Although our staff is relatively small—five pathologists with a support staff of twenty— the nature of the work results in a tremendous amount of paper and a constant influx of additional patientrelated documentation,” said Rubette Hebert, Business Office Manager at Bayou. Compounding this situation were regulations stipulating that billing and payment records must be kept for seven to ten years. At Bayou Pathology, the net results were strains on its staff due to the time and effort that it took to locate paper records, which were sometimes buried, lost, misplaced, or duplicated.
Why they chose DocFinity and Companion Technologies
Bayou Pathology realized early on that significant benefits could be derived from an electronic document management system (EDMS). When digital scanning that was scalable to a smaller company became available and affordable, they seized the opportunity. DocFinity’s seamless integration with Companion Technologies’ Practice Management application made it a natural choice for Bayou Pathology. The DocFinity system can be used for capture, storage, creation, and retrieval of patient records; integration with electronic medical records (EMRs); automation of HIPAA, HCFA, Medicare, and other compliance measures; and even management of non-clinical business and staff records.
Bayou Pathology uses DocFinity primarily in the business office. The lab’s medical secretaries also use it to track and file reports from reference laboratories. The DocFinity-Companion Technologies system allows Bayou Pathology to electronically file data, which gives them immediate access to documentation. As Hebert remembers, “Even though the DocFinity indexing system required some basic staff training, the efficiencies that we experienced were almost immediate. DocFinity equipped the staff with the tools they needed to provide better and faster service.” As part of their batch posting process, Bayou Pathology scans and indexes patient charges and payments as well as insurance payments, posting close to two hundred billing cases each day. Each billing case usually has two to five related documents that need to be scanned and stored in addition to all related payment information and insurance EOBs.
Hebert elaborates, “Users have been amazed at the savings in time and the elimination of aggravation. To locate a document using our former paper processes, we first had to find the box in which it was housed, which might have been several years old. We had to dig through that box to locate the document, then photocopy the document and place the original back where it was found. This proved to be cumbersome and time consuming as patient cases and records increased, and resulted in periodic misfiling and loss of documents.”
Results
Since the installation, Bayou Pathology has realized a number of benefits
- Instant access to documents
- Elimination of lost or misplaced documents
- Enhanced security
- Improved service to patients and physicians
The improved access to information has enhanced interactions with patients, healthcare establishments, and insurance companies, as questions about charges, requisitions, insurance payments, and physicians’ orders are answered quickly and efficiently. The technology is also helpful in Bayou Pathology’s internal audits, which are conducted every six months. Hebert says, “It used to be that when patients or doctors would call with questions, we would either have to put them on hold, or take a message and call them back later with answers to their questions. Now we are able to access answers in seconds, without ever having to leave our desks.”
In addition to enhanced customer services, all of the efficiencies and benefits have resulted in a better working environment for staff. Less time searching for information means staff can concentrate on delivering service, rather than frantically digging for information that may be misfiled or missing. As an added benefit, Bayou Pathology can now consider expanding into the space that formerly housed its paper records. As Hebert sums up, “The ability to electronically file and quickly retrieve an electronic document has allowed us to be more efficient and to better serve our customers and vendors. It has helped us to do a better job internally because we are not fighting that paper battle all of the time.”
