Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Scanning old charts

We have started the process of scanning old charts in preparation for transitioning to AC and a paperless office. We are using a Fujitsu fi-6130 Scanner. Any specific or general hints on speeding up the process? After opening the individual patient in AC, it still seems like there are several "clicks" plus adding in names for the file type (e.g. 'batch') and a file name. Can we set up a default for these?
For the older charts we are doing a "batch" scan, putting the entire record in as one pdf document. For newer ones we plan the more labor and time-intensive process of dividing the records into sections (notes, labs, etc) and scanning each in.
Does this sound right?
Do proprietary programs (e.g. Paperport)speed up the process?
Any and all suggestions are appreciated...just saving a couple of mouse clicks in the process (repeated thousands of times) would be nice!

this is exactly the same problem I have run into. We have 800 items pending to import and categorize that I did last week. I don't know of a method of quickly adding an imported item in batch mode, one after another. What version of AC are you using? I'm still on old version 3x and I agree it is somewhat cumbersome in that version. I asked Bert if FAP would be of use and he didn't think it would help. Still researching alternatives.

You can set up defaults for the scanner that will take out some of the clicks. We have a similar fujitsu scanner. We have our set up at the lowest dpi, single sided, and pdf as a default. We use PDF so it's easier to view in Amazing Charts. When you click on import is it bringing up the fujitsu preview screen, or the windows preview scanner screen? The reason why I ask is the windows preview scanner screen you have to do extra clicks and it resets the defaults everytime. The fujitsu program that came with the scanner has the place where you can set the defaults.

Have a good day,
Maranda

Some general shortcuts,
Click on the patient name and press F9 and import items will open up. It will default to the last folder used.

The last item in the scansnap folder (mine are date stamped) will be the one you open (if it was immediately after the scan) double click, and it will be included and box will close. We save our scan snap files as PDF automatically.

It then click remove original, set the folder (haven't found a way to default) and name the item. I have not found a shortcut for these clicks.

You can do it in about 30 seconds past scanning.

I have and use paperport but have not found it speeds up the process

We do the above, but do not have it remove original each time. If you just import the last one and then move on you can delete all of them at the end of your scanning. My wife who does the scanning does this just so she can see how many files she does a day - keeps a runnning tally of how many hundreds of scans she does and how many total old charts have been scanned in. This is just for her edification and so she can complain to me about how much scanning she did (LOL).

One thing I suggest is to print out one of your scans - an office I work with scans at lowest resolution and such - their print outs are almost impossible to read later on. Play with your settings - we use scansnap, normal quality, high compression, duplex (I believe does color with high compression) and save to PDF. This gives us a crisp good scan, good readability and decent size. My wife will literally sit down and do a few hundred at a time in nothing flat.

Thanks, everyone for your responses. To answer and summarize:

Eric, I am using V4 (recently downloaded) but I am not sure this is any less cumbersome than what you describe.

Wendell, Thanks for the f9 hint...that is just the type of shortcut we are hoping for!!

Miranda and Steven, The low dpi suggestion was also helpful. The default was 300x300. I changed it to 100x100 and it reduced file size from by 85% without any noticable dropoff in printed quality. A big savings in storage space.

Specific questions:
1. Miranda mentions the Fujitsu vs Microsoft screen. When we click "Scan" in AC, we get a "Twain drivers (32)" screen which then has the settings for dpi, type of file, etc. Can you tell me which of the two that is? I get the sense you guys are using Scansnap which may change the whole picture.

2. It sounds like you are scanning into a separate folder then dragging the files back to AC. I can do that with my current set-up, but it added more clicks. Does Scansnap change that as well? Sounds like I need that program....

3. Finally, is there a comprehensive list of the shortcuts (like "f9 to imported items" that I can view?

Thanks again..............

I don't know of a written list but you can look at the menus under vie, patient and billing and the codes are listed there. There may be a few more. I'm sure I don't know them all, but we did a lot of scanning so I learned that one from repetitive use.