Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Software: How it’s Used in Healthcare

A major component of the paper to electronic data conversion process is the use of optical character recognition, or OCR. OCR leads to fewer manual processes, which allows for more efficiency and accuracy.

How Does OCR Benefit the Medical Field?

Hundreds of millions of medical claims are processed every year, which can create a lot of paperwork and manual processing.  This work is further exacerbated if records are missing or incorrect. A study from 2009 said that on average, 30% of patient medical records could not be found upon their arrival to an appointment.

Over the past several years there has been a growing industry-wide push to convert all paper medical records to electronic.  OCR helps speed up the process of filing and accessing medical records, claims, EOBs, or just about any other medical form you could think of.  This change has alleviated manual processes, reduced errors, and increased accessibility to healthcare information.

Through advances in electronic record keeping, data interchanges, and optical character recognition, electronic records can be available within 24 hours for a wide assortment of forms and records.

This includes:

• Medical claims forms
• Pharmacy records
• Prescriptions
• Medical history
• Explanation of benefits
• Registration forms
• Health risk assessments
• Clinical exams and notes
• etc.

OCR is Being Utilized in a Multitude of Ways at Smart Data Solutions

At Smart Data Solutions we use multiple data capture processes along with our customized OCR to produce high-quality data capture. In terms of paper to EDI conversion, we combine OCR automation with some manual data entry to create highly accurate and fast processing of forms.

Our proprietary OCR tool uses flexible customization, machine learning, and AI enhancements, to deliver the highest quality solutions while being incredibly accurate, secure, and cost-effective. All captured data is subject to quality control reviews and edits. For example, validating NPI information, CPT codes, diagnosis codes, and addresses against external data sources.  If the data flags as invalid the fields are reviewed by our in-house analysts for accuracy.

The Use of Optical Character Recognition Vastly Improves Medical Processes

OCR gives us the capabilities to produce rapid return claims, highly secure data transfers, and real-time results. With our customizations and hands-on team, we can assure you your data capture will be accurate, secure, and put under stringent quality control audits. To find out how we can help streamline your practice to get the fast results you’re looking for, contact us here.