Secure Records Solutions (SRS) is a leading information management company in Georgia, customizing solutions to help healthcare providers efficiently eliminate paper. The SRS consulting team helps providers comply with HIPAA and laws governing information management by designing projects to move, organize, scan, store, and destroy hard copy records.
In an ever-changing healthcare environment, it is vital to partner with subject matter experts to help you navigate your unique challenges.
Please contact Christopher Jones, Consulting Team Leader at 229-224-1083, or visit www.securerecordssolutions.com.
Why are you a better choice than the alternatives?
Secure Records Solutions (SRS) is a family owned and operated document management business that is dedicated to problem solving. We provide creative, compliant solutions that meet the stringent regulatory standards required in today’s healthcare market. No matter what the challenge – tight timelines, disaster recovery, or EMR implementation – SRS is dedicated to finding the most effective solution for HTH members. SRS is located in a small town, so we fully appreciate the role that rural hospitals play in our communities. We do our best to provide value and ensure these hospitals continue to thrive.
How many HomeTown Health hospitals have you partnered with?
SRS has provided document management and information governance solutions to six (6) HTH hospitals.
How have you supported HomeTown Health in their mission?
The average HTH hospital has approximately 3,000 boxes of paper records despite having implemented EMR software a decade ago. Labor associated with retaining and managing medical records costs the average HTH hospital $30,000 per year, even though 95% of hard copy records will never be accessed. The biggest risk to HTH hospitals managing paper records is the myriad opportunities for a Protected Health Information (PHI) breach associated with storing records in unsecured spaces all over campus, accessible to many people. We are passionate about partnering with HTH members to find creative, compliant solutions that will reduce expenses and lower the compliance risk. When we do our job well, our HTH partners can get back to doing what they do best – caring for patients.
Can you share a success story?
“We don’t have any paper” A HomeTown Health Hospital Success Story
“We don’t have any paper!” is a common phrase we hear. In our 15 years of experience, however, we at Secure Records Solutions have come to learn that what that actually means is, “We have an EMR system that we now use.” Once an EMR system is implemented, management members believe that they are a paperless hospital. After all, what did they just spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on? A similar situation happened at Southwell, formerly known as Tift Regional Health System, a hospital system serving 12 counties in South Central Georgia. In 2018 after discovering 5,000 boxes of decades-old records, Southwell’s Director of Support Services sought a HIPAA-compliant solution to eliminate this compliance risk and regain space. That solution was Secure Records Solutions. SRS sent a team to pack up the 5,000 boxes spread across seven locations. We indexed files and developed a tool that allowed Medical Records to make retention decisions. Now, Southwell utilizes SRS’s “scan on demand” program, in which we scan and send any medical records requested, typically within 30 minutes. With SRS’s help, Southwell was able to regain space, lower expenses, and reduce compliance risk.
“Solution Found Before Disaster Strikes” A HomeTown Health Hospital Success Story
Change can be hard to do and easy to put off. When working with the Hospital Authority of Miller County, we moved records from seven unsecured locations throughout the county, secured them in our records center, indexed them to apply their retention schedule and eliminate old records, then provide ongoing support by digitizing files as needed. This resulted in a direct savings of nearly 67% of the cost to manage them onsite. Only a few months later, Hurricane Michael struck, destroying several of the buildings where records were previously stored. Had their records still been there, medical records would have been scattered throughout Miller County. By being proactive about solving their records storage problem, the Hospital Authority of Miller County achieved significant operational cost savings while also preventing an unimaginably expensive HIPAA breach.
“The Most Obvious Solution Isn’t Always the Best” A Hospital Success Story
Over the course of 25 years, Southeast Alabama Medical Center (SAMC), a 420-bed not-for-profit community health system in Dothan, Alabama, accumulated over 180,000 medical charts. Realizing the space and compliance issues caused by these records, the Corporate Compliance Officer, Medical Records Director and Facilities Director teamed up to find a better solution. The most obvious answer was “scan them all.” But scanning all 180,000 files was expensive, time-consuming, and, ultimately, unnecessary. SAMC partnered with SRS to find an alternative solution. After studying their system and thinking outside the box, SRS discovered that 93% of their records were eligible for destruction, but someone would need to go through them one by one. With 180,000 medical records to sort, it was still a big, tedious job. However, eliminating the majority of the scanning component resulted in an 80% savings to SAMC. SAMC recovered 10,000 square feet, eliminated the liability of records that met their retention, and gained a HIPAA-compliant solution for storing and scanning the remaining records.
“EMR going live in two weeks!” A HomeTown Health Hospital Success Story
The Oncology Center of Colquitt Regional Medical Center, a 151-bed medical center located in Moultrie, Georgia, was going live with their EMR and needed 90 boxes of patient charts scanned onsite in less than two weeks, without interrupting patient care. Scanning is a tedious, time-consuming process, as the Oncology Center’s staff quickly found out. It seemed impossible that their staff would be able to tend to patient needs while completing this scan project. SRS team members worked in shifts to scan all the medical records onsite into the EMR in the timeline requested and under budget, resulting in a successful EMR launch. Since that initial job, we continue to partner with Colquitt Regional Medical Center when they acquire a practice or find new records, so they can continue to focus on patient care.