“Medical document imaging can transform medical practice by capturing patient charts in an electronic form. Unlike paper charts, practitioners can access electronic charts with utmost ease, by clicking a mouse (or touching their PDA). Whereas they had to wait for the paper chart earlier, now the chart is available to them instantly.

The patient chart is the key document in healthcare. It communicates the specific information that doctors need. Even if the patient moves to another city the patient chart can be accessible by doctors there over the Internet.

Lab results can also be scanned immediately into an electronic document, and made available within hours to doctors. Even if the results are stored in another hospital, doctors can access it by dialing to the hospital.

This kind of scenario is very different from a paper-based one. Paper charts and lab results have to be physically moved around. Doctors have to make a request for the documents and then wait while it’s being located and transported.

Lost charts are a frequent problem when large numbers of paper-based charts have to be managed. Frequent retrievals and transportation could not only increase the risks of loss but also damage the records. Even otherwise, legibility is typically a problem.

E-Prescibing, where a doctor uses a PDA to check drug databases and make an electronic prescription can solve the legibility problem. Medical document imaging solutions often come with e-prescribing solutions also.

How Medical Document Imaging Reduces Costs

Paper-based charts require storage equipment and space. Dedicated staff are needed to attend to the paper-handling, filing, maintenance, and retrieval tasks. The problem is compounded because charts can be misplaced or lost and time might be spent on fruitless search.

Where the chart has to be sent to another location, courier charges are incurred, as against the Internet access possible to electronic records from anywhere.

Even within the same practice, the records can be accessed from any of the networked hospitals, clinics, or even from the homes of practitioners.

In a computer-based system, the paper charts and reports can be shredded once they’ve been captured by the medical document imaging system.

Other benefits of Medical Document Imaging System

Where doctors have to consult one another, the same patient record can be simultaneously accessed and studied by the doctors involved from their workstations.

Security and confidentiality can be improved if paper records are destroyed once they are done with. Access to the electronic records can be strictly controlled.

Medical document imaging is easy to install. It is easy to use, users can be trained in little time and regular imaging operations can start within a month or so.

Conclusion

Medical document imaging clearly brings out many of the advantages of document imaging systems. Patient charts and lab reports are scanned into the system, which can then be accessed by doctors from their workstations, or transmitted to distant hospitals if needed. Costs are reduced because paper handling and storage requirements are eliminated or minimized. Security and confidentiality are improved through more effective access control.”

“Back in 1998, Royal Philips Electronics fathered the Philips Healthcare Services group and appears determined that “”the son”" will soon become King of the medical equipment industry. Apparently, this move was in response to GE Medical Systems� announcement that it planned on becoming king itself of the ultrasound industry before the year 2000. Not to be “”out-royaled”", Philips from the first year started an acquisition frenzy in order to expand its subsidiary�s product portfolio well beyond its original product line, which began in 1918 with medical x-ray tubes.

Concluding Philips Healthcare Services first year, Philips Electronics added digital ultrasound systems to PHS�s portfolio by getting ATL Ultrasound of Washington. Only 2 years later, in late 2000, Philips grew into nuclear medicine by absorbing ADAC Laboratories of California.

In 2001 was a watershed year as Philips shifted into a very high gear by bringing on two more companies and their product lines � Agilent and Marconi Medical. By procuring Agilent Technologies� Healthcare Solutions Group of Massachusetts, Philips catapulted past GE Medical as the head of the ultrasound sector. Philips took in Agilent�s expertise in the areas of diagnostic cardiology, automated defibrillators, patient monitoring, and point of care diagnostic systems.

Marconi Medical Systems of Ohio, formerly Picker International, was already a huge part in its own right among gigantinc global CT suppliers. With Marconi, Philips obtained cutting-edge multi-slice CT technology along with cardiology, oncology and PET/CT imaging applications. These two acquisitions in one year put Philips in the top three for the entire medical equipment industry along with giants Siemens and GE Medical � some say as number 2.

In 2005, the growth continued as Philips bought Stentor, Inc. of California, provider best-in-class picture archiving and communications systems (PACS). This let Philips to aid its clients successfully control the many amounts of imaging data created by its medical scanners. Then, the following year, the growth continued as Philips adopted Witt Biomedical Corporation, the biggest independent supplier of Cath Lab monitoring and reporting systems.

In its drive to become King of the Medical Equipment industry, Philips Healthcare Services has obtained six companies since its inception in 1998. Every single one of the six has expanded Philips� offerings to include a total of ten medical imaging modalities, from CT to MRI to x-ray, along with defibrillation and cardiac monitoring equipment as well as image and information management solutions.

So, has Philips entered the royal industry castle yet? Some believe they have. As a matter of fact, prior to the last two acquisitions, Palo Alto�s �growth consulting� company Frost & Sullivan seemed to believe so. In 2004 Frost & Sullivan told everyone they were awarding Philips FIVE awards for �technology and services innovation and industry leadership�. Philips was honored for making distinguished contributions to the cardiac resuscitation and medical imaging industries and for providing leadership in these market segments.

Was Frost & Sullivan just looking for a spot at the royal court or were these legitimate kudos? Probably the later. F&S conducted interviews with many market players along with their customers and suppliers, and reportedly did extensive research into the medical equipment technology field.

One of the many awards included the regent-like titles of �Medical Imaging Company of the Year�, �New Care Setting of the Year�, and �Medical Imaging Technology of the Year�. The other 2 were for Technology Leadership and Services Innovation Leadership.

The answer of Jouko Karvinen, president and CEO of Philips Medical Systems, to the what he recieved sounded like the exact same of an industry coronation speech. He stated, “”We proudly recieve the Frost & Sullivan Awards as an independent validation of Philips business and technology leadership�. These 5 awards are more indicators that Philips continues to set the industry standard for developing innovative products that help treat patients and save lives.�”