While many industries have already made strides into the digital age, adapting current computer technology to their needs and harnessing the vast possibilities of communications networks such as the Internet, the healthcare sector has remained woefully behind the times.
Medicine may rely on technological innovations to create new solutions to safeguard the health of patients or to make surgical procedures safer, less invasive and more precise, but the industry has not yet fulfilled its potential as a leader in the rapid access and exchange of information. Many medical billing companies are looking to change all that by establishing the universally accessible National Patient Registry (NPR), an information network that will allow physicians to examine their patients' medical history quickly and easily. This system could revolutionize the American healthcare system in unprecedented degree.
First, each patient will be assigned an individual alphanumeric code for identification purposes, much like a Social Security number. Then, any time a physician or other healthcare provider needs to access that patient's information - anything from medical history to a list of medications that the patient has been prescribed to allergies - they can simply input the code into a central database (the NPR) and immediately view the necessary information.
The NPR will help physicians find relevant information more quickly, while simultaneously allowing them to keep track of the procedures they have performed with greater accuracy, resulting in increased revenue and fewer unbilled services. Similarly, patients will benefit from the speed and clarity of this system, with the additional benefit that a universally accessible registry will help protect them from unnecessary or even hazardous tests and procedures. A recent piece in the Los Angeles Times uncovered one patient who had undergone so many CT scans that her cancer risk had been elevated, simply because she had visited different physicians who had no accurate knowledge of her prior medical history. With a National Patient Registry, such needless risks can be averted.
As is always the case with the exchange of sensitive information, there may be concerns regarding the privacy and security of the National Patient Registry. Our medical billing firm emphasizes that the NPR will be completely secure and password protected. In order to view records via the NPR, a physician identification code will be required. Furthermore, a patient's must give his or her explicit permission to any physician looking to access their information via the Registry, and as an additional security measure, a log will record the identities of every physician who has accessed a patient's medical records.
Internet mainstay Google has recently announced their intention of establishing an Electronic Medical Records service that would be secure, free of charge and universally accessible, called Google Health. Our medical billing team sees the National Patient Registry as one aspect of this exciting new effort to digitize and rejuvenate the healthcare industry. No one denies that American healthcare is in trouble, but with the medical billing industry and Google at the forefront, we may have finally found a solution that works.
Author Resource:-
Adir Le has been in the medical billing profession for many years and has written many articles about medical billing companies and services.
He has also started a blog dedicated to medical billing.
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