With stringent HIPAA requirements, a proliferation of Meaningful Use criteria and changing reimbursement models to contend with, implementing an enterprise content management (ECM) system has taken a backseat at many medical groups and practices. However, more and more practice administrators are looking to ECM software as a cost-effective and compliant way to increase efficiency across the organization. (more…)

Northern Michigan’s Muskegon County Community Mental Health Services (MCCMHS) implemented its Avatar practice management system back in 2003 to automate electronic health records (EHR). Although the Avatar system had a document imaging module that could digitize the patient histories, lab reports and documents that would always require doctor and patient signatures, several of the county’s non-clinical departments—including HR and Finance—were also contending with overflowing file cabinets and rising storage and handling costs.

Rather than implementing separate solutions for the clinical and non-clinical sides of the house, MCCMHS officials recognized that enterprise content management (ECM) would be the most efficient and cost-effective way to answer its document-related challenges. (more…)