What started as a small but severe outbreak in the Wuhan province in China has now become a global pandemic as cases outside China increase 13-fold in just 2 weeks, ringing alarm bells across countries and continents. Battling COVID-19 effectively is the need of the hour.
As the confirmed cases of COVID-19 rise, government agencies and healthcare services the world over find themselves swamped in paperwork while striving to contain its spread and treat the affected population.
The last 2 weeks have seen the imposition of travel bans and the enforcement of quarantine by multiple countries, including a complete lockdown in Italy. The United States has also witnessed a sharp spike in the number of confirmed cases prompting President Trump to declare a National Emergency and further approve the allocation of $50 billion to manage and control the further spread of COVID-19.
The disrupting virus itself is called SARS-CoV-2, and it causes the disease that we know as COVID-19.
As individuals, the most sensible thing to do during these trying times is to not give in to the mass hysteria and panic. Listen to guidelines given by WHO officials and self-isolate yourself if any symptoms appear. The only way to get through this is by working together as a global community.
When we talk about battling COVID-19, WHO guidelines say that prevention is better than cure and we couldn’t agree more.
Here are a few tips to prevent COVID-19 transmission as per WHO guidelines:
- Wash your hands frequently with soap and water or sanitize at regular intervals with a verified alcohol-based sanitizer to kill the infection-causing germs.
- Avoid physical contact while greeting others.
- Maintain at least a 1 meter or 3 feet distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with your hands after touching external surfaces.
- Practice respiratory hygiene by covering your nose and mouth with a handkerchief or disposable wipe while coughing or sneezing.
- If you have a fever, cough or difficulty breathing seek medical help immediately.
- Stay at home even if you have mild symptoms like a runny nose or headache.
To this list, we would like to add 2 more safety measures for battling COVID-19:
- Do not trust every remedy or rumor on social media. Take guidance only from official platforms like the CDC website or WHO.
- Do not click on every link that talks about the COVID-19 as coronavirus-themed cyberattacks are increasing by leaps and bounds.
However, the main challenge at this stage is not just increased awareness, but also to cure the existing cases of the virus and trace its spread accurately to prevent further outbreaks.
As healthcare service providers and diagnostic lab technicians work round the clock to properly test and process all the suspected cases coming in, here are some of the main challenges they face and the tasks that need to be accomplished:
Patient Form Processing
As awareness spreads and everyone with even the mildest of symptoms gathers at hospitals for testing, the ever-increasing quantity of incoming patient forms threatens to overwhelm hospital resources.
Despite the push towards digital forms, most hospitals will find themselves dealing with vast volumes of paperwork including forms, insurance information and personal identification papers and in the case of COVID-19, travel history documents are also required to ascertain the source of contraction.
The combination of OCR technology, data capture, and automation can be employed to streamline the entire process and can help in organizing and segregating vast amounts of patient information in real-time with greater accuracy and higher efficiency.
ARDEM is here to provide all the data entry and document processing services required and help you with COVID-19 Patient Testing Form processing.
Patient Demographic Form
This form contains information that helps with the identification of the patient and their further categorization for statistical analysis.
The form usually requires the following details:
- Date of Birth
- Gender
- Country, Postal Code, etc.
- Ethnicity
- Blood type
- Medical History, i.e., allergies, major diagnosis, family history, etc.
- Family Doctor, Insurance Provider
- Emergency contact information
Not only does this information have to be processed fast, but it also has to be processed accurately as even one missed case can increase the risk of contagion and enable the virus to spread further.
At ARDEM, we can help you manage all of your processing needs, just send us the scanned or even physical copies of all these records and we will employ the best combination of people, process and advanced technology to organize your data.
Medical Requisition Form
A medical requisition form is a lab slip that is used to order the testing of a particular specimen or sample.
As more and more suspected cases of coronavirus come in for analysis, testing all the incoming samples efficiently and effectively is of paramount importance. However, your efforts can be weighed down by a ton of corresponding paperwork.
You can outsource your document processing to ARDEM. We will provide you with the needed paper document processing services for sample processing required for medical testing, environmental testing, and other sample testing applications.
With our vast experience, we recognize the importance of accuracy in medical records and will deploy the best people and the best solutions to process this critical information in real-time.
Lab Requisition Form
These are the forms sent to the diagnostic center or clinical laboratory and indicate the tests that have to be performed for a respective patient.
You need an outsourcing partner at this stage to help you keep track of the incoming order forms and samples for testing. Having previously processed data during the last H1N1 virus or swine flu outbreak, we at ARDEM Incorporated are ready to do our bit to help those at the front lines of the fight against COVID-91.
Lab Form Processing
With healthcare professionals and lab technicians becoming overwhelmed by the sheer volume of samples that are coming in on a daily basis for processing, a need-for smart data processing solutions with greater accuracy has risen. A small error, like the mislabeling of a sample, can not only mean the difference between life and death but may also aid unconsciously to help in spreading this pandemic.
With 3,487 cases reported in the United States alone and over 60 reported deaths, we can no longer afford any mistakes or delays.
The ARDEM Solution for Battling COVID-19
Given the current crisis, ARDEM is committed to providing timely, responsive solutions for faster healthcare processing.
COVID-19 Patient Testing Form Processing
COVID-19 Patient Testing Form Processing requires the processing of the paperwork which accompanies the test or sample. This paperwork contains the patient demographic data – as in medical samples, or, the characteristic conditions under which the test sample was taken-as in environmental testing. This data has to be transferred from the paper on which it comes in, to the lab information system. Accuracy is pivotal when working with medical records, which is why we strive to ensure the highest quality of data.
ARDEM provides smart paper document processing services for all patient information and sample processing including:
- Processing services for medical testing, environmental testing, and other sample testing applications.
- Processing of patient demographic data required for billing purposes.
- Processing the complete Test Requisition Forms, getting the data into your information system, and sending out confirmation for the sample being received- ARDEM is here to assist you every step of the way.
So let your lab do the testing and let us process the COVID-19 Patient Testing Form paperwork for you, while you focus on doing what you do best, i.e., battling COVID-19 and saving lives.
COVID-19 Lab Testing
As the number of suspected coronavirus cases increases, so do the number of samples sent out for testing.
This means that every high-volume test laboratory is processing a large volume of samples that it receives daily. In this situation, the amount of paperwork that needs to be processed also increases by leaps and bounds.
This is where the ARDEM solution comes in, we can process all the corresponding paperwork with every sample that comes in for testing and support those battling COVID-19.
We have been approached by medical labs, biomedical labs and even environmental test labs for processing this paperwork.
- The samples which are sent to laboratories for processing come with identification data about the sample.
- This data needs to be captured and brought into the lab information system.
- We do this very quickly and efficiently with extremely fast turnaround time- no one has to wait in the lab for the paperwork to catch up.
- Information is captured from the sample processing paperwork and is uploaded into your information database before your lab even starts testing the sample.
Sample Test Requisition Form Processing
A COVID-19 test requisition form consists of extremely crucial data including a patient’s registration information, billing details, sample information, sample label along with the details of the physician who ordered the testing.
Each aspect of this form contains vital information that needs to be organized properly to track the entire diagnostic process and deliver a correct diagnosis along with details of the patient in case he or she needs to be quarantined.
This is how it works:
- The moment labs receive their samples- they separate the sample from the accompanying data forms and send the sample for testing and analysis. The accompanying paperwork is sent to ARDEM.
- As soon as we receive the documents for processing, our team jumps into action and keys the data from each sample form.
- The sample forms are transmitted multiple times during the day and output data files are delivered at a defined frequency over the day- achieving the almost real-time back-office processing operation for sample processing services.
Healthcare Claims Processing
With mounting testing and treatment costs, the mountain of healthcare claim application forms also keeps on increasing.
At this stage with most of your administrative staff and nursing staff busy battling COVID-19, claims processing doesn’t have to come to a standstill.
ARDEM has considerable experience outsourcing services for healthcare claims, medical claims, and HCFA Claims among others.
- We accept claims in both digital and paper formats. The paper claims are shipped to us in batches.
- We then inventory all the claims received and scan and sort claims and back up the support documents as required.
- Demographic and other relevant data are captured from every claim and output data files are created with the highest accuracy.
- The transmission of output files happens multiple times per day, or as per a predefined frequency.
Security
While controlling the spread of the coronavirus is the top priority, let us not forget about patient information security. You need not worry about data breach while partnering with ARDEM as we are already HIPAA compliant and practice ISO27001 that ensures security at 3 main levels, i.e., physical, network, and employee. We can confidently promise to safeguard your sensitive healthcare data including PII and PHI details.
Come, let’s combat the spread of COVID-19 together.