When it was time for one of the largest multi-specialty medical groups in Michigan to switch EHRs from NextGen to Epic, they wanted to be sure the inevitable disruption of the change wouldn’t affect patient care. To do this, their automated document scanning and indexing would need to stay on track, but different EHRs handle data differently. These significant differences could multiply the potential for errors and a document indexing backlog.
As they prepared the rest of their organization to switch from NextGen to Epic, they worked closely with DISC. Not only were they able to avoid a backlog, but they doubled the number of records they scanned and indexed each day as they went live with Epic.
Making The Change
The organization had experienced rapid growth due to acquiring new practices and had developed an effective workflow for manually filing medical records. However, they recognized that their full-time staff would soon be overwhelmed as their network continued to grow and they did not want to add more staff resources to keep up.
They chose a technology partner who could duplicate their scan and fax workflow and automate the effective but labor-intensive process: SmartFiler by DISC.
The organization transitioned its manual document filing system to DISC SmartFiler automated indexing in phases. This allowed them to centralize the filing of all electronic fax documents to remove the burden from individual practices.
When it was time to change EHRs from NextGen to Epic, they informed DISC of their plans about a year before their go-live date. DISC prepared them for the specific challenges they would face and took several steps to support the transition.
DISC redesigned its system to match Epic’s requirements and document type list. Then they provided the organization with guidance and coaching on the adjustments they would need to make in their indexing process. This allowed the organization to switch to Epic EHR with a more efficient indexing process that boosted a 99.99% accuracy rate.