By Kimberly Donovan, Health Services Process Administrator

The Health Services Department has gone paperless!   The Process Team in Health Services, with the help of our Information Technology (IT) departments, has transferred all their paper files into image through scanning.    Member information dating from 2005 to present is now accessible electronically to designated HNE staff.   Jean Wyman, Director of Health Services, initiated this project at the beginning of 2006.  Together with Jen Loranger and John Page from IT, Health Services created a home-grown system designed to move a scanned image into HNE's proprietary data storage software.  By June 2006, the system had been tested and was up and running.   The Health Services Process Team, Tamika Hall-Crichton and Kimberly Donovan, began scanning files in June 2006 and completed that project on September 1st.  There are many advantages to electronic filing – from reducing physical space requirements to enhancing accessibility of member file information interdepartmentally. 

"This new technology is a great help to the Health Services Dept, especially when you are covering a case management assignment. The scanning allows the reviewers (nurse and physician) to quickly access previous approvals and denials for a complete history of the member.  It is quick, efficient, and eliminates the prospect of filing errors."

– Joyce Gay, Health Services.

"Access to the scanned documents has reduced our turn around time for member appeals processing.  We can now view the case management files immediately on-line.  We are extremely grateful for this access as it makes our process more efficient." 
--Eileen Meyers, Complaints and Appeals.

"The scanning process will revolutionize the way HS performs our day to day business. Staff will have more time to review the information we are provided, instead of typing it into a database.  It will be another universal tool to enhance our overall efforts toward the continuity and coordination of care for our members.  All necessary departments/staff will have access to hands-on information as quick as a click."  
– Debra Liptak, Health Services.

This project could not have been a success without the help of our IT staff including, Jen Loranger, John Page, Niraj Desai, and Tim Peltier.   Health Services would also like to recognize the hard work of those individuals who did the hands-on work – preparing the paper files for scanning as well as the scanning itself:  Sherry Charvis, Joyce Gay and Tamika Hall-Crichton of Health Services, and Larry Williams of IT Operations.

The Health Services Department is excited to put this new capability to good use, leveraging the benefits of a paperless environment through more efficient and expedient processing of member information.