Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Scanning

I am using UpDox to handle incoming faxes, but it is very slow with scanning. I still get a significant amount of paper that needs to be scanned into the chart. I use an HP Scanjet 4850 flat bed scanner to scan directly into AC. I was told by AC support that this scanner was not allowing me to scan muli-page documents as 1 file. They recommend that I get a document feeder scanner with Twain driver,but they would not suggest any brand. Any suggestions on such a scanner? Does Fujitsu have Twain Drivers? Also, will scanning into AC eventually slowed down its performance? Should I consider scanning into Paperport to lessen the load?

Dr. Lindsay:

I have a Fujitsu ScanSnap s510 that works very well, scans multipage documents as a single file, and comes with pretty good software for organizing information outside of Amazing Charts.

I think the only disadvantage to a scanner without a Twain driver is you can't activate it from within Amazing Charts, but I found that scanning from within Amazing Charts was not always that straight-forward, even when I did have a scanner with Twain drivers.

Our Xerox Documate 510 has worked fine so far. It has a feeder and can handle 25 pages at a time easily. More than that it tends to jam. Even our not so tech savvy front office person has handled it with ease. We scan a lot right now too and so far no problems, just a big import items file to back up. We go straight in to AC. How is UpDox?

Well, as Brian knows, I won't go into scanning/faxing and AC, and I certainly won't go into File Assistant Pro, which I think one user MAY be using.

But....to answer your questions:

Fujitsu is the way to go for pure scanning.
Yes, they come with Twain drivers
You should look for at least a 50 page feeder
And....

You could scan 10 Terabytes into AC and not slow it down on millisecond. How much you scan into AC has absolutely nothing to do with its performance.

There you are, a definitive answer! You're the greatest, Bert.

Bert, I think you need to write an omnibus treatise on faxing and scanning into AC and post it on the Wiki!

I will then sneak in by night and make little changes to it!

LOL. I already did that Brian. You must be too tired at night to find that. Oh, I could be so cruel and leave it at that and have you look all over the Wiki. But, I won't because someone gave be the Flaming Warrior avatar, Boy Scout. So, I have to live up to that.

But, it's a good idea.

I agree there is nothing better than Fujitsu Scansnap. It scans to pdf.
I use Ringcentral for faxes. The faxes come as pdf files which are eazy to file. Just drag and drop.
I use the scanner as a fax. I scan and 'print' to Ringcentral print driver.
The only issue was that Ringcentral did not have local fax number assignment. We were given an 800 number. We did not want an 800 # as our fax. We kept our local fax line with our phone line with the local phone service. The fax number is forwarded to the 800 #. The faxes come in just fine.
Cost a penny more but absolutely worth it.

Thanks for the scanner advice. Sounds like Fujitsu is a good choice. David Russell asks about UpDox. I have just started, and am slowly getting my referral sources to send their consult notes via the new fax number with UpDox. These faxes come in as a PDF onto my computer, where I can view them on my monitor, delete the junk, and save the notes I want by assigning them to a patient in AC. I can even add my comments before saving. This eliminates scanning, but I am slowly converting everyone to my new UpDox fax number. Its also nice to have another way to fax when the traditional fax machine goes on the blink.

I also use UpDox for outbound faxing. I can refill a prescription by "printing" to the UpDox Printer, click on a pharmacy, and hit the fax button. There a few too many mouse clicks, but I could make a macro using Dragon ("fax RX to Walgreens"). I also fax visit notes in request of consults using UpDox.

I try to get patients to accept their lab results via e-mail. I can construct a templated e-mail note about their cholesterol, and attach actual labs to the e-mail.

I have to shred my own paper, and UpDox has help to lessen the paper battle. It is definitely worth using.

Greetings, I am new to AC.
I have been reluctant to convert to AC due to the limitations of the Jet engine. I am a solo practitioner w/ a 2003 sp2 server and 8 workstations in various rooms.

I would like to scan my archived med rec (over 1000 pat) into AC for digital storage.

Bert stated "You could scan 10 Terabytes into AC and not slow it down on millisecond. How much you scan into AC has absolutely nothing to do with its performance." If so then, what creates the degradation in performance? The number of total patients or active patients?

Incidentally, when I scan documents are they contained in the access database so when I backup the database my scanned documents are also backed up? What about the database size limit, isn't it 4GB max?

I am considering Unicharts for this reason (mysql engine) although I would prefer AC. Unicharts seems less user friendly or developed as AC. There is also no peer support forum. Unicharts, however, is fast and has "unlimited" capacity for storage.

Are my database concerns valid? Can someone elaborate on this?

Thank you

Sol

We have scanned in over 1300 pt. charts with all labs, x-ray reports, chart notes, etc. for last 5 years. Have noted no real degradation in access speed. I have Windows 2003 enterprise edition, 5 exam rooms and 5 other computers in house, also use logmein for outside access frequently.

I've used a scan snap s510 (I believe) and it was much faster than I expected. Has the lack of AC connectivity been a problem for any of you using it? I see the Fujitsu fi-5110C has a TWAIN driver, but it scans a little slower and costs a little more.
I also see that there is no 64 bit driver for the scansnap s510. It looks like I need that.

I have been running around telling people that they mustn't scan all those old records into the new system. Am I wrong, AGAIN? Sigh. I have so much to learn. I may have formed a big part of the opinion based on what AC prompts when you import an ID photo and it warns you that it is not a good idea to import such a large file. Is that just based on the fear of exceeding the file limit for backup with AC's service? I am speaking on this in October and would be delighted to give out correct information! Anyone have an opinion on this, (I read what Bert posted and accept that as Gospel, but I am trying to do due diligence here.)

Martin,

I think you will be OK no matter how much you import. As I said earlier, I think you can be huge numbers of MBs in the folder without any degradation of speed or performance.

Just for kicks, I imported a 25GB file, which actually did get imported. I was able to easily open that file and a 2KB file from within the chart.

I thought that maybe it would be slowed down since Access usually sends everything over when a query is done, but it didn't seem to affect it.

If this is an Access vs Sequel issue then I guess it will be moot with version 4. With my old charts, I have a LOT of files, and they are all TIFFs with lots and lots of little ones and zeros. With 3 doctors we already have over 5,000 active charts in AC. For now I will still put the old records in storage on the server with Capture Perfect, but I will not stress over the "too large" files that I use for ID photos and so forth. Thanks for the insight.

Definitely wouldn't stress. Too many other things to stress over.