How to Transfer Medical Records to Electronic

If your practice, clinic or medical facility has been in business for even a few years, you have a massive project ahead of you. The federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, often referred to as HITECH, has dedicated billions of dollars as part of a mandate to move the United States into using electronic medical records. While choosing the right EMR system for your operation requires a tremendous amount of thought, consideration and technical insight, turning old paper records electronic requires mostly patience and repetitive tasks.

Instructions

• 1

  Study the attachment and archive file requirements of your chosen EMR system. Learn which file types your system will accept, store and integrate for future use. Determine the number of records you need to transfer. Before you choose the method that's most cost- and time-effective, you'll need to understand the scope of the project.

• 2

  Open a patient's file in your EMR and select the option to upload documents for attachment to the file of record.

• 3

  Place the document flat down on your office scanner and close before selecting the scan-to-upload option in your software. If a corresponding dialog box allows, inform the software about the number of pages in your document. Most software packages allow for multipage scans to form a single upload file.

• 4

  Scan your multipage document into Adobe Acrobat or another imaging program that produces a PDF file, then upload the file into your EMR if the EMR cannot manage multipage scans. Delete the original PDF file as soon as you have a successful upload. Do not just move it to the trash or recycle bin; ensure it is fully deleted to comply with The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations. Because this process creates a non-HIPAA-compliant electronic document to get information into your HIPAA-compliant system, it is an option you should try to avoid.

• 5

  Enter the data of paper records manually to populate electronic patient records. Most likely, your EMR system can record historical information. Entering the data means not reading scans when reviewing patient records, but having historical data easily accessible and integrated into your new system. Weigh the associated time and labor costs before proceeding because this option usually takes longer than scanning,

• 6

  Store your paper records safely and securely per HIPAA guidelines. If during the record conversion process you determine there are old records you should destroy, again review HIPAA regulations on patient record destruction and proceed in compliance.