Posted by Janna Vienca Cañezal
Anna works as a front desk receptionist for a multi-provider clinic in Sacramento. She uses an EHR to check in patients and a blue record book to log non-patient visitors. During a recent security breach near Anna’s clinic, a thief broke into several offices and stole a number of employee laptops. Anna’s practice manager asked her to review her record book and check if the suspect had been in their clinic. Unfortunately, Anna’s blue record book is nowhere to be found. If she used visitor management software, she could quickly pull that information, compare images of past visitors with that of the suspect, and set a data recovery plan in place.
Why Do You Need Healthcare Visitor Management Software?
John Smith, the suspect, operates like a chameleon. He dresses in business casual clothes and strolls through offices looking as if he belongs. He peers into vacant rooms and unattended workstations like an employee and quietly slips the laptop in his bag. You’ll never suspect that something is wrong. This is why practices need to identify, verify, and monitor everyone who comes in and out of their clinic.
Healthcare data attracts criminals with the wealth of valuable information they contain. Along with adding cybersecurity measures, practices need to add physical safeguards required by the HIPAA security rule. Aside from scheduled patients, pharmaceutical sales representatives, equipment maintenance staff, and couriers come and go into your medical clinic. If unmanaged, they can pose a security and HIPAA risk. With the amount of foot traffic healthcare practices get daily, tracking even non-patient visitors is essential.
Read More: Ransomware Protection Guide: How to Protect Your Practice
Healthcare visitor management systems allow practices to digitally identify, screen, log, and track non-patient visitors. It helps minimize the risk of intruders and informs you who is still on the premises in real-time. With visitor management software, you’ll save time and resources on manual check-ins. In the event of an emergency, your practice can properly account for everyone in your facility and make sure everyone is evacuated safely.
Using a paper logbook doesn’t provide the security and transparency of a digital system. Anyone can glance at a record book and see who entered the premises before them. Record books can also be stolen, altered, or lost.
Additionally, with the ongoing pandemic, visitor management systems for clinics aid in contact tracing. Practices have the option to add questionnaires regarding the visitor’s health, travel, and possible exposure to COVID-19 before allowing them to enter the premises.
However, maintaining several systems to run all aspects of your practice can be a hassle. Thankfully, there’s IMS Guest.
IMS Guest: An EHR-Integrated Visitor Management System
IMS Guest is a visitor management system integrated with IMS. Part of the Electronic Medical Office (EMO), IMS Guest lets you check-in guests, schedule future and recurring visits, and track the status of the visit. Having a visitor management system integrated with your EHR means a convenient and hassle-free way of logging in guests without switching or pulling up multiple systems. Instead of flipping through page after page in your visitor book to find a record, you can instantly search a guest’s visit details in just a few clicks.
If you need your guests to sign a non-disclosure agreement or any other document, staff can set this option up during the check-in process. You can also review all signed, printed, or scanned documents for a particular guest. Likewise, you can print, fax, or export a list of guests in a particular time frame.
IMS Guest allows you to track the status of the guest, so you’ll know if they’re still inside your clinic or not. You can easily add photos through a connected webcam for proper identification. Additionally, for added security, only certain employees with the right access grants to the module can see your guests.
From patient visitors to contractors, monitoring your clinic's guests fosters a sense of security. Your patients and staff will feel more secure knowing that each visitor is logged and tracked before entering the clinic.
Modern practices need modern solutions. You can start with IMS Guest.
A More Productive Medical Office
Inefficiencies in your medical office send ripple effects throughout your practice, affecting both your patients and revenue. The Electronic Medical Office (EMO), an industry-leading suite of office management tools in Meditab’s EHR system, IMS, aims to optimize your office. From staff scheduling to visitor management, EMO transforms your manual processes into a digital workflow.
Managing your visitor traffic is one task that is better off in a digital format. IMS Guest perfectly embodies this transformation, changing the way you think about efficiency, security, and patient safety.
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