To avoid heavy fines, medical facilities must release requested medical records to doctors and insurance companies. The release of information system (also known as ROI) was created to deal with the influx of requests.
However, because specialized ROI companies can provide numerous benefits, many hospitals are outsourcing release of information. Here are some benefits to begin with:
1. Reduced Operating Expenses
Employees must be hired and trained for an in-house ROI department, office space needs to be maintained, and computer systems must be updated on an ongoing basis. The long-term costs of these expenditures can be enormous for medical facilities.
However, these operational costs will be significantly reduced through the outsourcing of the ROI department. They can manage their operations in a much more cost-effective manner because they can use their resources with multiple clients simultaneously.
As a result, the costs connected with operating their facilities and acquiring the latest technologies are shared among their many clients rather than borne solely by a single healthcare facility.
2. Enhanced Productivity
The most recent technologies are often unavailable for traditional in-house ROI departments. The result is a lower level of productivity than could be expected.
In contrast, outsourced ROI firms invest a significant sum of money in the most advanced equipment and software. Investment in new technologies helps them attract and retain the best clients, which allows them to provide increased productivity, better security and higher levels of customer satisfaction.
3. Limited Liability
When dealing with a patient’s personal and medical information, ROI departments must follow extremely stringent guidelines. All ROI employees must abide by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), differing slightly from state to state.
A medical facility will be held liable if it does not adhere to these rules. The medical facility can transfer some of this risk to the ROI service provider by outsourcing the ROI department.
4. Capability To Deal With Increasing Workloads
With in-house ROI departments, medical facilities must maintain an excellent work-life balance for their workers. Overstaffing is expensive, and understaffing leads to a backlog. It is also challenging to hire temporary workers to fill in the gaps because ROI staff must be highly trained.
It is much easier for companies that use outsourced ROI services to deal with these fluctuations in workload as they can move highly skilled workers from one project to the next when needed.
5. Advantage In The Healthcare Market
Using digitized data, it is possible to quickly locate numerous records and run analytical diagnostics, providing crucial insights and giving you an advantage over your rivals.
Since digitized data doesn’t need to be printed for distribution, it’s easier to work with. Ultimately, this will lead to a fall in your company’s environmental footprint.
Factors To Consider While Outsourcing Release Of Information
Many medical practices opt to outsource the release of information procedures because it is a time-consuming and resource-intensive operation. There’s no quick or easy way to do this, not to mention the hours spent answering follow-up calls and checking that the information provided is accurate and up-to-date.
Here are some questions to ask yourself before choosing a vendor to make sure you get a partner who can meet the needs of your practice, patients, and requestors alike.
1. Are They Productive Enough?
Third-party release of information (ROI) services that consistently deliver on time are crucial for reaping the full benefits of the service for a variety of reasons.
A primary concern is still ensuring that employees follow all applicable rules and regulations. HIPAA mandates a 30-day turnaround period, although many states and municipalities have stricter requirements. Because you’re a link in the information chain, you could be held liable if a vendor’s service fails to provide the correct information on time.
Even if much of the process is outsourced, efficiency significantly impacts the amount of work your personnel must do. There may be as many check-ins, and status calls from customers as possible if they were still being handled in-house, notwithstanding the benefits of outsourcing.
2. Do They Use Digital Technology?
To avoid any problems and increase productivity, it’s ideal to use an electronic vendor—and, of course, one that is HITECH-compliant as well—to handle all of your needs.
In most cases, this type of service has two significant advantages: Speed
For the most part, digitizing records speeds up the process of searching, sorting through, tracking, and sending them. In addition to having data logs and document tracking, most reputable suppliers who operate electronically also have data logs and document tracking, which allows them to view all the required details that requesters may need to verify. While postal records can take weeks to arrive, electronic records can be provided in hours.
3. Are They Secure Enough?
There are several ways to safeguard manual storage, retrieval, review, preparation, and mailing operations. Still, they pale compared to the security and reliability of a digital system created particularly for safety. When it comes down to it, outsourcing the release of information should make you feel safer, not less.
Even if the information does get into the hands of the wrong people, there’s a clear and complete record of what happened to help prevent it from happening again in the future.
4. Cost Vs. Benefits?
Even if your team can devote their attention to patients due to outsourcing the release of information, you still need to choose a cost-effective ROI vendor.
Fortunately, solid ROI services are relatively inexpensive, especially when compared to the expenditures of ROI specialists, consultants, and legal guidance.
However, the top provides their ROI services for free and relies on fees paid by requesters to earn money. In this scenario, everyone wins—your team is freed from time-consuming, non-patient-care chores, you save your business time and money, and there is no change for the requesters.
Throughout the year, our writers feature fresh, in-depth, and relevant information for our audience of 40,000+ healthcare leaders and professionals. As a healthcare business publication, we cover and cherish our relationship with the entire health care industry including administrators, nurses, physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, and more. We cover a broad spectrum from hospitals to medical offices to outpatient services to eye surgery centers to university settings. We focus on rehabilitation, nursing homes, home care, hospice as well as men’s health, women’s heath, and pediatrics.
