Clutter is a disease. It destroys productivity.

A few years ago, my healthcare practice exhibited all the usual symptoms: desks blanketed in paper, folders accumulated in stacks, and long wait times for support staff to retrieve patient information.

But with a few small software and hardware additions, I found a way to alleviate the paperwork drag for existing patient records stored in cabinets as well as incoming postal mail.

Using the Fujitsu ScanSnap, the staff scanned and converted our paper files to PDF so we could store them in an easy-to-use and affordable document management system called M-Files from Motive Systems.

Together, these two technologies transformed our entire operation, providing my staff instant access to any piece of information in the practice and me with remote records retrieval so that I have access to patient data 24/7 from any computer, whether it’s in the office, at home, or in Cancun.

With ScanSnap, scanning becomes a fluid task throughout the day.  It’s reliable, fast, folds up small, and immediately converts scans to searchable PDFs that I can index using key terms in M-Files software in just a few seconds.  If I am talking with a patient I can quickly pull up any lab reports or other documents in M-Files on any computer in our office and we can review them together.  Both my patients and I love that!

Now I scan all my paper, even items that might border on junk mail and end up as clutter, including invitations to meetings, notices, advertisements, etc. I scan everything and trash the originals.  It no longer piles up.

We were also able to make more efficient use of our existing space and eliminate two large file cabinets and a desk, which allowed us to turn an office into an exam room.  In the first year, this potentially saved us $24,000 in rent and $5,000.00 in moving costs.  Now when you add in the extra revenue that the additional exam room will generate we start talking about some serious money. We are talking about another $50,000 a year in my pocket by the smart utilization of technology using M-Files and ScanSnap scanners.

Dr. Stephen Smith
Northwest Healthcare and Wellness Center

Click here to read more about NW Healthcare’s office-wide implementation of
M-Files document management software in conjunction with ScanSnap devices.  Or to find out more about M-Files for your office check out their website www.m-files.com.