Choosing the Right Policy Management Software for Healthcare
In the coming weeks, we will discuss what you should look for in policy management software.
Automated policy management solutions have become an indispensable part of running an efficient, successful healthcare organization. Healthcare leaders — especially Compliance and Risk Officers and Chief Nursing Officers — have turned to automation technologies to better manage the massive volume of documents, data analysis, and security, and meet evolving compliance standards such as CMS, OIG, and other accrediting organizations such as TJC, DNV, CIHQ, and AAAHC.
Yet, like most software solutions, the products are only as good as the support behind them. Nearly 75% of today’s workers want more training and support for the tools and systems they use daily, whether it’s provided by their employer or by a vendor.
With over 98% of healthcare executives emphasizing a commitment to compliance and ethics, it’s imperative that health business leaders establish relationships with vendors whose services include extensive implementation and post-implementation support and training to drive adoption, higher usage, and maximum return on the investment.Â
In this week’s blog, we will look at one aspect of policy management – so many documents and so little time.
It’s no secret that the state of healthcare document management leaves much to be desired. Health organization leaders face an increasing number of challenges when trying to gain efficiency in their policy management operations, such as:
Document deluge – The sheer volume of documents makes the managing, storing, searching for and efficient retrieval of policies and procedures a major undertaking, draining a significant percentage of your team’s time.
Sifting through the paper trail – Even though we are working in the age of EHRs, many healthcare providers continue to maintain policies and procedures in unwieldy, physical binders that make searching and updating policies and procedures laborious and time-consuming. Not to mention that maintaining and updating policies and procedures to reflect regulatory or accrediting organization standards changes becomes extremely challenging when your team is chasing a never-ending paper trail.
Cybersecurity risks – Electronic document management provides opportunities to boost efficiency, but at what cost? Without proper attention to IT security, digital information theft leaves healthcare providers wide open to ransomware and compliance-related issues.
Duplication errors and Information silos – The healthcare industry functions within highly specialized silos, so it’s no surprise that data, policies, and procedures inadvertently wind up being stored in independent silos. As a result, locating policies and tracking employee compliance can result in a maze with more dead ends than connection points. Who knows how much an organization could be wasting on futile searching in the wrong silo and the unknowing duplication of policies and procedures.
A cacophony of compliance – Regulations on top of regulations. Each year an untold number of new healthcare laws and regulations need to be incorporated into your organization’s established workflows. From CMS, and HIPAA, to accrediting organization standards, each regulatory change requires updated or new policies and procedures—a recipe for adding hundreds of pages of documents.Â
The challenges that arise from a combination of manual and electronic policy management leaves most healthcare providers and their teams exhausted and in dire need of a more efficient policy management solution.
We all know that healthcare needs policies and procedures and it is a huge undertaking to manage those policies and procedures. Next week we will talk about why you need a policy management solution.
MCN HEALTHCARE
Regulatory Compliance Solutions for Healthcare Organizations,
Including Policy Manager, Policy Library Templates,
StayAlert! – Regulatory Alert System, and Learning Management SystemÂ
MCN Healthcare, Inc. is an innovative provider of custom policy content, policy management software, learning management, and compliance expertise for healthcare providers. MCN’s policy management software, fully customizable policy library, regulatory notification system, and learning management system have been developed specifically for the needs of healthcare professionals, by experienced healthcare professionals.