ImageNow Saves Mercy Regional Health Center Time and Money

Perceptive Software, Inc., today announced that Mercy Regional Health Center (MRHC) is using ImageNow® integrated document management, document imaging and workflow solutions to increase productivity and reduce expenditure on the duplication, storage and archival costs associated with paper documents.

Based in Manhattan, Kan., MRHC is an acute-care facility with three clinics and 150 beds in two hospitals. This private, not-for-profit organization employs more than 800 people and has more than 100 local physicians with admitting privileges who aim to provide quality, compassionate healthcare services to patients.

When MRHC moved into a new facility, space was set aside for extra offices. However, as the number of patients increased, the overwhelming volume of incoming paperwork turned these areas into makeshift storage space. Employees' time was consumed by searching for patient files in this paper labyrinth, and administrators realized an electronic document management application was needed to restore order to the organization's business processes.

"It was amazing to see how much time we were wasting on managing paper," said Ron Olsen, systems analyst at MRHC. "I used to see employees pushing carts loaded with paper from one office to another, day after day. It once took up to three days to transfer documents between our five locations, but with ImageNow, it takes less than 30 seconds."

Before ImageNow deployment, MRHC sent 1.25 million pages of medical records information to doctors' offices every year. These documents were photocopied and either faxed or sent by mail to physicians. ImageNow Fax Agent enables staff members to send faxes with a single click and duplication is no longer necessary.

In addition to purchasing reams of paper, MRHC used to spend in excess of $10,000 a year on folders that housed medical records, and $40,000 annually on an external archiving service that transferred older files to microfiche. ImageNow has helped to dissolve these costs, as all MRHC's documentation is now digitally stored in the secure ImageNow repository.

"ImageNow saves us large amounts of time and money," Olsen said. "In addition to reducing storage, archiving and office supply costs, ImageNow enables us to rapidly process corporate hospital contracts, which leads to extra savings."

MRHC intends to deploy WebNow™, the full featured, browser-based complement to ImageNow, which allows authorized users to access information from any location. The organization has implemented ImageNow in its medical records, patient accounts and admissions departments, and plans to extend the solution to accounts payable (AP) and human resources (HR). Patented integration technology enabled ImageNow to seamlessly integrate with MRHC's MEDITECH applications and contributed to a rapid deployment.

"ImageNow integrates with any application, enterprise-wide," Olsen said. "Our human resources department is implementing Lawson's HR suite, so ImageNow's proven ability to integrate with this software was a key selling point."

After deployment, Olsen and a colleague attended ImageNow training classes. These hands-on sessions helped MRHC to maximize the benefits of their ImageNow solution.

"Perceptive Software really does train the trainer," Olsen said. "With the knowledge we acquired at ImageNow training and because ImageNow is so easy to use, we're able to train each user to access documents in less than 10 minutes."

Olsen and his coworkers find that ImageNow's intuitive interface makes it simple to tailor the suite to fit their unique business procedures. Perceptive Software doesn't require a maintenance agreement, but MRHC employees know they can depend on the ImageNow support team to quickly respond to questions.

"Perceptive Software has the most advanced technical support system I've ever seen," Olsen said. "Most vendors just answer inquiries in theory, but Perceptive Software's assistance is practical and totally interactive."

About Perceptive Software

Perceptive Software, Inc., develops integrated document management, imaging and workflow software solutions that simplify business processes by delivering secure, digitized versions of paper and other electronic documents while leveraging existing applications. Customers in a broad range of industries worldwide have taken advantage of ImageNow, Perceptive Software's flagship software offering.

Discover the ImageNow difference at http://www.imagenow.com/healthcare