Government regulation can be tricky, especially in an industry that doesn’t…how do I say this nicely…embrace change very well. As surgical schedulers, you understand the need for efficiency. Hopefully you have put the fax machine out in the dumpster along with the neighbor’s old mattress. But in order for true efficiency to reign, everyone needs to embrace the future.

For whatever reason, hospitals have been wary of electronic innovation in the administration sector. The same place that is home to a particle accelerator is also home to a 1980’s style fax machine used for scheduling. They are stuck in the rut of paper-based scheduling and need help to get out.

But who can help the hospitals out of the dark ages? New online surgical scheduling platforms, like Case-Connect, are paving the way to new efficient procedures. Surgical schedulers everywhere have embraced the idea of a “software as a service” (SaaS) model and have seen its benefits. Hospitals, on the other hand, apparently need more encouragement.

Maybe the government can prove useful in this debate. As a part of the comprehensive HIPAA act, regulators outlined certain privacy requirements in Title II - the Administration Simplification provisions. These standards are meant to “improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the nation’s health care system by encouraging the widespread use of electronic data interchange in the U.S. health care system.”

In other words, the HIPAA regulations are encouraging surgical offices and hospitals to quickly and efficiently communicate information through computers and to keep records, patient information, and other critical data secure by using SSL encrypted servers, for example. Sounds like a cloud-computing/ SaaS model is just what the doctor…er…government…er…common sense ordered.

So why is the government concerned about changing the old way of transmitting information? Let’s take a look at some of the guidelines that must be used to properly send a fax while following HIPAA guidelines, according to privacyrights.org:

1. Is the fax machine in a supervised area, off limits to unauthorized persons? Is use restricted to authorized personnel only?
2. Is the fax machine used exclusively for sending non-confidential materials?
3. When sending documents, do all users complete a cover sheet which indicates the sender’s and receiver’s names, addresses, and telephone numbers?
4. When confidential materials are sent, is notice of their confidential nature indicated on the cover sheet?
5. Do users always check the receiver’s telephone number before transmitting documents? Do users compare the number displayed with number being called to check for errors? Do users check the transmission report after the fax has been sent?
6. When transmitting confidential materials, is the recipient notified in advance that the document is being sent? Does the sender check with the receiver to make sure the document has been received?

Wow, I’m tired just reading through the checklist. Multiply that times a hundred and you have just outlined a surgical scheduler’s morning routine. Thank goodness HIPAA recognizes the ineptitude (for both efficiency and privacy) of the fax machine. There must be a better way, and even the government has recognized that.

An online platform for surgical scheduling will increase communication, ensure privacy, and take away the need for the cumbersome steps listed above. Maybe HIPAA regulations will spur hospitals to accept the future…before it passes us by.

If you have been following this blog for a few weeks, you know that I have been harsh on surgical offices for not embracing change and technology as quickly as they should. To be fair, there is a sector of the healthcare industry that is lagging even further behind, and you probably deal with them every day: hospitals.

Henry Ford changed the world with his innovation. According to Wikipedia (and I have no reason to doubt them), “the assembly line developed by Ford Motor Company between 1908 and 1915 made assembly lines famous. However, the various preconditions for the development at Ford stretched far back into the 19th century.”

Henry Ford didn’t implement the assembly line in one day…it took years to perfect and implement into the industry. The same goes for the digital revolution – it has been an ongoing process for several decades. Thankfully, now is the time to reap the fruits of so much hard work.

For some reason, hospital administrators have not yet seen the value — or rather the necessity — of switching to a digital scheduling system. Hospitals aren’t afraid of technology…if they were, we wouldn’t have CT, EKG, MRI, PACS, or any number of other high-tech acronyms.

For some reason, however, their comfort zone in scheduling is found in fax machines, hard copies, Post-it notes, and file cabinets. They want something tangible in their hands at all times. Fax machines are their scheduling security blanket, in a manner of speaking. It’s not really their fault – that’s how they were raised, and they have yet to be weaned. They’ve never really been held accountable to provide efficient scheduling procedures to partner surgeons…yet.

Until now, the surgical world has gone along for the ride. But times are changing, and we can’t afford to wait for the hospital giants to embrace inevitable (and welcomed) technology. Online surgical scheduling via a cloud computing platform is the perfect way to let hospitals dip their toes in the water, so to speak.

Nicholas Carr outlines the big switch to cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) products in his book: Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google. Carr asserts that conversion to cloud computing won’t come as a big bang, but as a slow swapping out of services over time. By starting with something relatively small (but vitally important) like surgical scheduling, hospitals can experience the efficiency and cost-saving benefits of a SaaS platform.

Bigger changes are certainly coming. Electronic medical record (EMR) services are a hot topic of the healthcare reform debate. At the recent meeting of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Eric Schmidt of Google had a voice of warning for the federal government. He stated that by not utilizing a cloud computing model, “hospitals and doctors would continue using an outdated system of databases in what is becoming an increasingly Web-focused world.” The cloud computing model is primed to lead the medical field into a new dawn of productivity and cost savings.

The online-cloud-SaaS revolution is knocking at the door. Just as the world eventually realized the value of assembly lines, healthcare is beginning to realize the importance of efficiency, privacy, and streamlined processes. Maybe hospitals are not yet ready for the complete assembly line…but it’s time they started getting used to a conveyer belt.

Online surgical scheduling (spelled: Case-Connect) is the perfect way for hospitals to begin their foray into the digital world. They’ll never look back.