Set against a backdrop of mountains in pastoral Arkansas, Ozark Health Medical Center is a critical access hospital for the town of Clinton and the surrounding areas and an outpost of technological advancement.
Experiencing continual growth over the years, Ozark opened a state-of-the-art facility in August 2004, replacing a building that was over 50 years old. In the beginning stages of planning for the new facility, medical record storage needs came under close scrutiny. Though the medical center was scanning some records to disk, periodically purging paper, the remaining charts still simply took up too much valuable space – 150 square feet of space, to be exact — a sum at odds with the Ozark’s goal of becoming paperless and reaping the benefits synonymous with electronic information.
Sheila Smith, RHIA, CCS, the HIM director at Ozark Health Medical Center, explains, “We were in the process of implementing a new information system, we updated the radiology equipment, the lab equipment — virtually everything. We knew our medical record department needed to go there also." |
