Paper has now become passé technology. The fact that you’re reading this blog on a computer (or mobile) screen is a testament to the lacking need for tangible documents. With more than 144 billion emails sent every day, communication would slow to a crawl if we still relied on paper—it’s less proficient and lacks any real-time capabilities.
The Tablet is Mightier than the Pen
In the healthcare industry, doctors, medical professionals, and insurance companies are required to keep secure records of their billions of patients. The Agency of the Health and Social Services (ASSS) of Montreal knows the challenge all too well. Trying to maintain a working level of efficiency while tracking paper records on each patient is nearly impossible. Every day ASSS de Montreal relied on tens of thousands of paper forms. Since the agency was dealing with more than 1.6 million residents across 17 hospitals, this was a huge waste of paper and, more so, the definition of a big data problem.
“Our major challenge was to reduce the number of paper forms as we noticed that on an average 80 percent of the information in a form was being replicated in other forms, which was a waste of time, effort, material, and resource.”
-Diamantino De Sousa, ASSS de Montreal
With the ability to have electronic medical forms delivered directly into an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system, workflows become more efficient, and healthcare providers and physicians get the information they need on mobile devices, smartphones, laptops, and tablets. An integrated healthcare infrastructure—where systems are connected, so information is available in a centralized place—rid the issue of excessive paper waste at ASSS de Montreal.
An Electronic Form is the New Norm
Because of TIBCO Formvine, electronic medical forms help streamline data submission, so they’re easily available through various applications while remaining secure. The ability to instantaneously gather signatures, images, drawings, and other information on a mobile device decreased time spent on creating and submitting forms by 30 percent. The days are gone when a doctor has to shuffle through hundreds of files and papers to find the exact one needed.
ASSS de Montreal now can access, deliver, manage, share, and create information faster than ever before, without the need for paper. This has not only decreased the amount of time, money, and effort spent on ensuring proper documentation and availability, but it is also helping to advance innovation in the healthcare industry.
