Best Practices in Document Management for Healthcare Professionals
Professional healthcare documents include critical information about a provider’s education, experience, certifications and licenses. Without proper document management, they might experience lapses in licensure or miss out on career opportunities. At a time when skilled medical professionals are in short supply, lost, missing or inaccurate documents can also make quality care less accessible to patients.
Unfortunately, managing such a vast array of documents is difficult, even for small private practices. Medical Licensure Group (MLG) specializes in assisting healthcare professionals with document management and secure storage. This post describes the core components of an effective management system and how we can help you create them.
Key Types of Documents in Healthcare
Over the course of their careers, healthcare providers collect a wide range of documents, including:
- Medical school diplomas
- Copies of licenses
- Board certifications
- Training certificates
- Continuing education records
Each of these documents plays a part when medical professionals obtain or renew their licenses and apply for positions with healthcare facilities.
Best Practices in Document Organization
As you accumulate more healthcare documents, keeping them organized and secure becomes increasingly challenging. Start with these basic guidelines:
- Standardize: Establish clear document retention policies, including how long they should be kept and how to dispose of them.
- Categorize: Separate documents based on their function.
- Aim for accuracy: An error in your documentation could delay licensure and hiring processes, so verify all the information you enter.
- Prioritize security: Use secure storage solutions and limit access to sensitive information.
- Go digital: Store digital copies of documents so they’re easy to retrieve and update.
In addition to optimizing your internal processes, working with document storage partners who value your privacy and professionalism is vital. MLG organizes digital and physical documents so clients don’t have to wonder whether important items have accidentally been discarded, lost or destroyed.
Ensuring Security and Confidentiality
Your documents contain extremely sensitive and personal information, including your social security number, address and academic records. Protecting that information is of the utmost importance, not only to your career but also to your financial and physical safety.
From 2009 to 2023, unauthorized parties gained access to healthcare documents at a frightening rate, with more than 500 million healthcare records exposed. Taking security seriously is critical for medical providers. That’s why MLG uses stringent security measures, including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption and daily security testing, to protect sensitive information.
Utilizing Technology for Document Management
Many healthcare professionals have replaced paper documentation with electronic versions. These digitized documents make information readily available to providers, prospective employers and licensing boards.
They also use document management tools to organize their files. This is much more efficient than traditional filing drawers and scattered digital filing systems, which make it difficult to find information quickly.
MLG uses advanced technology to manage and streamline the document management process for healthcare professionals. We store your documents in an organized database that you can access at any time.
Regular Audits and Compliance Checks
It’s never wise to assume that you’re complying with the regulations put in place by state medical licensing boards. Conducting regular audits can confirm you’re maintaining document management integrity. Look for missing files, incomplete or incorrect information and potential security vulnerabilities.
MLG assists providers in complying with these regulations and standards by securely storing and categorizing their documents.
Tips for Efficient Document Retrieval and Sharing
Searching through hundreds or even thousands of file names to find the document you need is inefficient. Clearly labeling and categorizing every file allows you to locate information in a matter of moments rather than minutes or even hours.
Your method of sharing documents is equally important. Keeping your documents in a public cloud service poses a privacy risk. MLG shares documentation through secure systems, such as emails that only you can access.
Our document management system also facilitates easy access and sharing of your documents. With a few clicks, you can safely retrieve and review the documents you need.
Training and Continuous Education
Continuing education is a core component of renewing a medical license, but some professionals neglect to keep records of the programs and courses they’ve completed. In addition to your medical degrees, you should also store accurate, up-to-date information about your extended training.
MLG is committed to maintaining all your documentation, including certificates and transcripts from your continuing education. We reach out to any education providers to obtain copies of your paperwork and verify its currency and accuracy.
Enhance Your Document Management With MLG
Document management is crucial to providers and their patients. It empowers you to offer quality care, meet regulatory requirements and safeguard personal and patient privacy.
Without the right system in place, however, document management can become a time-consuming and expensive burden. MLG provides expert assistance and simplifies the document management process for healthcare professionals. To learn more about our services and support, call 850.433.4600 or contact us online.