With the help of Active Data Systems (ADS), the Sioux Falls Surgical Center (SFSC) of Sioux Falls, South Dakota has found a way to “grease the skids” of the health care paymentsystem. “By being able to electronically move documents we reduced the time from when we do a procedure to when we get reimbursed to 30 days,” said Brad Darger, of SFSC. He added, “It used to be, at least, 60 to 90 days or more. It becomes both a time and money issue for us.”
Opening in 1985, the Sioux Falls Surgical Center is a freestanding center equipped with the most advanced medical technology. Performing over 9,000 procedures per year, the Sioux Falls Surgical center does more procedures, per capita, than of any freestanding surgical center in the United States.

The Surgical Center has seen benefits in both patient care and business operations since it implemented the ScanFile Document Management System. “We scan approximately 30,000 images in a months time,” said Darger. “We do a lot of electronic filing with third party payers. Getting information from the patient care areas to the business office electronically expedites the process,” he added.

SFCS settled on ScanFile because there was a local provider (Active Data Systems) who had a good track record with servicing it. Pricing was another key factor, as well as ease of use. Says Darger, “I can train anyone to use it in 30 minutes, it’s really that simple.”

Document imaging involves converting paper documents into digital images. After the process is complete, businesses have the ability to retrieve, view, fax, route and email any document within seconds. It is estimated that nearly 80% of the world's data still exists only on paper. Accessing information from a paper source is slow and inefficient and the problem only compounds as the volume of paper documents increase.

Says Darger, “If someone has had surgery previously, we can simply search their name and pull up all of the information on them and add it to the new chart.” Charts archived prior to installing the system require someone to go to the file room to find a patient’s chart. Any misfiled chart takes additional time to locate. “If we digitally scan and index the file properly, it will always be where it is suppose to be.” The Surgical Center scans information as it is created making information available to all that need it. “It doesn’t matter where the chart is, all authorized patient care and business office personnel have access to chart information as soon as it has been scanned.”

Each patient chart averages 30 - 35 pages, or more, depending on the patient. As long as the digital file cannot be altered or deleted it is considered a legal document. “We have to keep adult’s charts for seven years, and children’s until they are 21 years of age. We do many infant surgeries so we have a lot of records for a long time.”

“The sheer volume (to store patient files) is breath taking. You can’t imagine the amount of space that is being rented in bonded warehouses for medical records, which people just keep forever.” The Surgical Center keeps their archived patient files in a 900 square foot room specifically designed for charts. According to Darger a 30’ x 30’ room will hold about 130,000 charts. “We can easily store that much information on the digital storage bin on our server.” The Surgical Center’s server occupies less than four square feet of floor space.

Copyright © 2002 Active Data Systems Inc.