Electronic Medical Records Management
There's a new article hosted on
LoHud.com about the evolution, uses and practicality of electronic document management for medical facilities. Sparked on by recent news that President-Elect Obama hopes to re-organize the countries medical records into a more streamlined, digital-database, this author examines what that might mean, how it might go and how the idea has evolved so far.
GRM has handled electronic and hard-copy document management programs for hospitals and medical facilities for years, and it's always interesting to hear what people in the area have to say about it.
From the article:
"Data-based medicine and electronic records-keeping are not new concepts. President George W. Bush insisted in his January 2004 State of the Union address that "by computerizing health records, we can avoid dangerous medical mistakes, reduce costs and improve care.'' His goal: Ensure that "most Americans have electronic health records within the next 10 years.'' The effort has had only modest success. The nonprofit Commonwealth Fund issued a report in July that found 98 percent of doctors in the Netherlands and 89 percent in Great Britain use EMR - compared with 28 percent of U.S. physicians. Early last month, slightly better use was reported: Just under 39 percent of U.S. doctors use electronic medical records, the National Center for Health Statistics found; yet only 4 percent of 2,000 doctors questioned said their systems were fully functional."
E Waste
Are you aware of the amount of "E-Waste" that's been accumulating since the advent of computer technology? There's been a lot in the news recently on the relevant and somewhat hard-to-believe statistics surrounding the subject.
- 235 million Electronic Units have accumulated in storage over the past 20 years
- Approx. 40 million computers became obsolete in 2007
- The majority of computers that are "recycled" are actually outsourced to other nations.
GRM currently provides a definitive hard drive destruction process that will both get rid of your Drives and ensure that the sensitive data within will never fall into the wrong hands. Follow the link above to learn more about the practice on our website.
ESI Isn't Just for Lawyers Anymore
Welcome to 2009. We'll be kicking off the new year here at the GRM document storage blog by sharing an article from
WWPI.com on the merits of electronically stored information, eDiscovery and how these trends have found their way into the day to day operations of businesses outside of the legal field.
According to the piece, "Personal digital assistants like the Blackberry, notebook and laptop computers, even cell phones with text messaging are all subject to data discovery requests. Managers, lawyers and IT professionals (whether in-house or outside vendors) must work together to create an in-depth understanding of a company’s electronic document trail."
This is an excellent point, and managing, cataloguing and handling the ever-increasing amount of digital data a business handles is a slippery slope.
GRM has worked with legal professionals and many other business sectors for years on instituting and catering to digital data storage needs.
Nine Ways to Disaster Proof Your Business
Australia's News.com website has an article up today on preparing a disaster recovery plan for your business. As we role in the new year, there is nothing more important for 2009 than ensuring your business has the right plan in place to bounce back from disasters of all shapes and sizes.
GRM has been working with companies in every major business sector for more than 20 years, planning the necessary steps and implementing the right technologies to guarantee that even in the worst of times - data management still goes smoothly.
The article is an oversimplified version of what needs to occur in a thorough disaster recovery plan, but the nine steps will certainly begin moving you in the right direction. For full details on how GRM can custom tailor a program for your business, please follow the link to our website. Happy New Year!
Tips for Greener Legal Document Storage
One day before New Years and we're back in the saddle. I'll be posting on the document storage blog for two days this week (today and tomorrow), then back to an everyday schedule beginning next Monday. There hasn't been a ton of relevant articles in the news of late (
presumably due to the holidays), but I did come across one piece on making document storage and records management at legal firms more environmentally friendly.
The article provides a number of helpful, and practical ways to ensure you're doing the most you can for the environment. It ends with a handful of simple tips that will go a long way towards greening your offices. I've copied a few of them below, but follow the link for the complete list.
1. Whenever possible, print research and draft documents double-sided on recycled paper. Printing double-sided will also reduce space needed to file documents.
2. Switch from legal-sized to letter-sized for paper and file folders. Twenty-five percent more files will fit into a 1.2 cubic foot document storage box if the files are letter-sized.
3. Print draft documents in "draft" mode. This will significantly reduce the amount of toner used.
Happy Holidays
This is my last post before a much-needed holiday post, so I've decided to keep things simple today. Happy Holidays, and I hope everyone has a festive and merry week-and-a-half leading up to the New Year.
Safe Media Storage
Keeping a back log of your company's important files and information is becoming more important with each passing year. Using an external hard drive or data tapes are easy and convenient solutions for backing up all of the digital information in your office, but what is the point if a fire or natural disaster strikes your building? Keeping your backed up data in the same space as the original copies doesn't make sense, and document management centers provide a solution. Find a company that offers secure, off-site media vaults in which you may store older external hard drives and other back-up materials.
GRM's media storage program is one of the very best in the New York Tri-State. We're set-up to handle all forms of multi-media storage, and have proudly worked with production companies of all shapes and sizes. Our vaults not only offer the protection of being in a separate location, but also provide a far healthy environment for electronics than any office space. With computer controlled temperature and humidity and a minimal amount of dust and dirt - why would you trust your data to be stored anywhere else?
