Whether you’re keeping track of patient charts, logs, information sheets, office signs, vaccination records, patient update forms, extended history forms, HIPAA forms like notice of privacy and authorization, billing forms, Medicare forms, school medication forms, release of information forms, screening forms, prevention plans, pain questionnaires, prescription pads or the myriad of other forms, forms and forms, it’s enough to make your head spin.
If you work in a medical office, chances are you’re juggling anywhere from three to ten forms per patient, per day. If you see over 100 patients a day, you start to realize how much paper is involved! And many of these forms may receive critical updates from HIPAA, so you’re in violation of the law if you don’t stay on top of the changes.
It’s a never-ending stream of forms reminiscent of that famous quip about housework, “It’s like threading beads on a string with no knot on the end.” Forms seem to multiply, and they never stop coming. So how do you keep up with the rush and make sure that you’re giving the right (and legally correct) forms to your patients at all times?
Taming the Paper
There are two ways to effectively stay on top of this paperwork.
You can use some of your office staff to run copies of these forms as often as possible. The upsides are that you can do this at any point. The downsides are that often already busy staff will be taking valuable time away from patients to create these copies. They may have to update the forms regularly, and the cost of ink plus the wear and tear on your copier is enormous.
Then there’s the cost of business, which equates to hours spent managing accounting costs and inventory for the papers, as well as modifying, translating, approving, logging, tracking and distributing the forms.
Even just three forms per office for 100 patients for one month adds up to a whopping 7,500 forms (not including your Saturday patients). What’s that you say? You have two locations? You can start to see where you might want to consider “Option B”….
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Use Your Neighborhood Printer!
Printers like Ironmark can make short work of a stack like that. In fact, we can handle all of the various pieces for you, since we’re experienced at printing medical forms for a number of different types of practices. We’ll also help you make sure that your content is always up-to-date so that you’re not in violation of any HIPAA laws, and can recommend modifications to streamline your paperwork. We copy-editing and translation services so you can ensure that they’re correct every time.
We’ll print high quality copies that we (or you) can store until you need them. And we’ll do it affordably without the tax on your time or the ongoing headaches. In fact, many of our clients just let us know when they’re running low and we automatically ship them a new set of forms to keep them up-to-the-minute updated.
Also good news: High volume runs can earn you discounts beyond what you’d get from Staples and other commercial paper suppliers.
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Need Even More Forms?
For several different types of forms, this site by the American College of Physicians® is a good resource. Each medical discipline has sites that can point you to the correct forms for your particular form of practice.
Want a free quote? We’ll get one ready for you. Then you can take one thing off your list – or maybe even 7,500 things!
