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<td><a href="story.htm">MMRA Story</a></td>
<td><a href="information.htm">Release of Information Services [R.O.I.]</a></td>
<td><a href="software.htm">Software</a></td>
<td><a href="imaging.htm">Document Imaging Services</a></td>
<td><a href="testimonial.htm">Testimonials</a></td>
<td><a href="contact.htm">Contact MMRA</a></td>
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<h2>MMRA Story</h2>
Midwest Medical Record Association, Inc. (MMRA) was founded in 1994 by a dedicated group of Health Information Management (H.I.M.) professionals. Our goal is to provide reliable, innovative, and above all else, professional management of protected health information (PHI) for health care providers.
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MMRA’s principals include: a former H.I.M. director with over 20 years of experience in health care; a founder of a service bureau that has provided various record management services for over 25 years; and entrepreneurs who saw the tremendous need for a service with this proven concept.
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We combine experience and extensive training with the use of new technologies and innovative concepts to provide an array of services to H.I.M. departments of all sizes.
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Our initial focus was to provide release of information (R.O.I.) services for the Midwest region of the country but now, with health care facilities moving toward an electronic health record, we have become more involved in comprehensive record management solutions. Since its conception, MMRA has seen its services and client base expand to many areas of the country. These services include: release of information, correspondence tracking and disclosure software, document imaging, electronic health record (EHR) software and on-site staffing that provide a variety of document management functions.
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Our marketing efforts are targeted at H.I.M. departments of all sizes and geographic locations that realize the importance of having an open and professional relationship with a vendor, while receiving the necessary services that represent your H.I.M. department to the health care environment and beyond. We believe our success has been achieved because we never lose sight of that original objective: To provide professional reliable services at an affordable price.
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Our commitment to our clients is to provide the best professional and innovative services no matter what size or geographic location.
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<h2>Release of Information Management [ROI]</h2>
In today’s health care environment of mergers, budget reductions and HIPAA regulations, it is essential to be both professional and efficient while taking advantage of new technologies to provide a positive atmosphere for a health care facility’s community. Guest relations and the public’s perception are extremely important in remaining competitive. The release of information area is directly exposed to the public and has been identified as a key factor for customer satisfaction. It is critical that this process be handled with the utmost care and responsiveness.
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Health care facilities are also being forced to reallocate and reduce full-time equivalent (FTE) positions in all areas of the H.I.M. department. Departments are told to be more productive yet decrease FTEs, while managers are struggling with the limited amount of resources available.
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At MMRA, we realize that more and more health care facilities will require R.O.I. companies to manage their entire R.O.I. operation. Departments can save on valuable FTE positions by relinquishing this traditional role to an R.O.I. company. The problem is that most R.O.I. companies shy away from the added responsibility and increased workload because this requires a complete understanding of how H.I.M. departments function.
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Revenue to perform these added responsibilities have decreased, due to an increase in the number of states that have regulated fees. A company must not only be knowledgeable and experienced, but must know how to utilize both staff and technology to become more efficient than ever.
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MMRA has developed an R.O.I. process utilizing trained staff, credentialed managers, new technologies and a thorough understanding of today’s health information practices. This process has proven beneficial to many health care facilities in obtaining the professional and reliable release of information services they deserve.
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Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
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The first-ever federal privacy standards to protect patients’ medical records and other health information provided to health plans, physicians, hospitals and other health care providers took effect on April 14, 2003. Developed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), these new standards provide patients with access to their medical records and more control over how their PHI is used and disclosed. State laws providing additional protections to consumers are not affected by this new rule.
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MMRA assists in conforming to these HIPAA standards through revising policies/procedures and re-educating employees.
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Continuing Education <br/><br/>
MMRA’s on-site employees are trained in all aspects of R.O.I. management and continually receive updates on new practices and procedures. Our credentialed managers attend local, state and national H.I.M. meetings to increase their overall knowledge and stay current with H.I.M. directives. MMRA’s legal counsel also provides our credentialed managers with up-to-date legal information that we are able to share with our clients, allowing a partnership to develop which encourages continuous growth and expertise. At MMRA, we pride ourselves with the knowledge and understanding of R.O.I. practices that we have developed, but also realize that keeping up to date in the fast changing health care environment is a daunting task. We are committed to being informed and keeping our staff and clients current on all R.O.I. matters.
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Best Practices <br/><br/>
MMRA has established guidelines for releasing information that is based on federal, state and local laws. We have also tailored procedures based on each individual health care provider’s policies. MMRA understands the importance of personalization and being detail oriented along with the importance of a health care facility to be HIPAA compliant.
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Services <br/><br/>
MMRA provides an array of R.O.I. services that are customized for each H.I.M. department, ranging from traditional partial service to a complete full service package. During the evaluation process, tasks are reviewed with the health care facility to determine the request flow, as well as the responsible party for each task. Additional services can also be provided, such as: loose filing, record conversions, copying for departing physicians, consultations and much more. These services are provided to ensure that the entire R.O.I. process can be efficient and professionally rendered. MMRA realizes that in order to perform R.O.I. services effectively, it must rely on its ability to access documents in a timely manner. Therefore, we acknowledge the importance of the entire document management process within a health care environment and can provide additional services when needed.
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Full service <br/><br/>
Full service requires considerably more experience, knowledge and an overall understanding of H.I.M. departments. Most vendors would require additional fees for staffing and supervision, but these days revenues are limited due to existing regulated fees or H.I.M. budgetary constraints. Full service is where MMRA excels in performance. It is why our credentialed managers have spent years being educated and trained. This is also where our use of new technology directly benefits the process by improving our overall efficiency, therefore allowing us to provide more services to our clients. All necessary hardware and software is provided and maintained by our staff. We will bring your entire correspondence area up to date, allowing the department to reallocate or reduce FTEs. Our full service includes everything from reception to re-filing.
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Partial services <br/><br/>
For H.I.M. departments that are not in need of full service but want the same professional management and technological innovations, MMRA can provide a limited or partial on-site operation. We provide direct supervision of our partial service sites to oversee and consult on all R.O.I. issues. These services provided can also be customized to meet the client’s needs.
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Electronic Health Record (EHR)
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The advent of the EHR has provided health care facilities with a new tool to manage the information process and provide countless benefits to health care providers. These benefits are so promising that most facilities are only starting to realize their full potential. The road to the EHR can be filled with many turns and hurdles until these numerous benefits can become reality. Traditional practices are now being challenged with facilities looking for ways to perform more efficiently and to justify costs associated with the EHR. Some promises have been overstated by enthusiastic EHR vendors who lack the experience or the knowledge of traditional practices—release of information is one such area.
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Some vendors are making claims that the implementation of an EHR system can eliminate the need to outsource the vital R.O.I. process. In addition, unsubstantiated claims of new revenues obtained through the R.O.I. process may actually pay for this EHR implementation. All of this is usually more of a dream than a reality.
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Today’s EHR is more of a delivery and archival process. It does not take the place of a service that provides professional and legal guidance, along with on-site staff that have the knowledge, experience and dedication that MMRA possesses. This may come to fruition some day, but will require a requestor to have access to their desired documents, retrieve them in a secure manner, have the ability to control sensitive information, and be assured that total access has been fulfilled. This will also require authorizations, verifications and lockouts to specific documents in a totally secure atmosphere. At present EHRs do not have the ability to perform the R.O.I. function any differently than traditional hard copy document management systems. They can only retrieve the requested documentation and electronically transfer to an authorized requestor, but have no ability to computerize the entire R.O.I. process.
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Departments will still have to provide postage, supplies, trained R.O.I. personnel, software, hardware, legal and professional guidance, along with the entire revenue collection process. In addition, this process will have to be supervised by H.I.M. management, which of course will add more direct responsibility and burden to the department. This is precisely why health care management has overwhelmingly turned to outsourcing the R.O.I. process in the first place.
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In most cases EHRs will take years to catch up with the decades of health information already stored on various media. Even with a fully populated EHR, a patient’s health record will be a hybrid consisting of new electronic templates, imaged documents, ASCII files and countless documents on hard copy or microfilm. The concept of a unit record no longer exists because patient’s records are located on all of these various types of media. This has made the entire R.O.I. process more complicated, cumbersome and requires a more versatile staff. It will take some time to be totally electronic and the experience and know-how of managing all of these media types will be a tremendous benefit. The MMRA staff can capitalize on the EHR by retrieving, viewing and transporting documents that are residing on the system electronically. They can also design a workflow process that encompasses all of the existing formats. This will allow an H.I.M. department to focus on the challenges of an EHR implementation. EHR will prove to be a tremendous benefit to the health care environment, but they are only tools for people to utilize that will allow them to be more effective. Certainly some tedious tasks will be eliminated, but R.O.I. is much more than copying records. It requires the focus of a company to provide experience, knowledge and dedication above all else.<br/><br/>
Software<br/><br/>
MMRA has developed an array of software tools to manage all aspects of R.O.I. services. Our H.I.M. staff, as well as our clients, provided the direction, while our software engineers developed user-friendly, efficient programs to give not only our on-site staff, but also our clients, powerful tools to manage the R.O.I. functions.
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Release of information Software InfoQuest [ IQ ]
In order to meet the needs of the H.I.M. director and provide timely information for our on-site staff, InfoQuest (IQ) was created to capture and retrieve detailed information on each request submitted. Status of correspondence requests can be retrieved by patient name, medical record number and requestor name or invoice number. All requests are entered and stored in the system. The reporting includes average turnaround time, requests received/sent, requests listed by various sorts and request statistics by various sorting capabilities plus much more. Ad-hoc reports can also be created. Now our clients have access to generate and print their own reports as well.
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IQ is always being evaluated and upgraded to better meet the needs of a changing industry. Before HIPAA went into effect, IQ was modified to capture the PHI that is being released. This section is customized to the health care facility’s forms and can be electronically checked off, whether an abstract, a complete or a specific document is released.
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Tracking Disclosure Software HIP-IQ
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Prior to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, there was no federal law requiring a tracking mechanism for release of information of PHI. HIPAA requires covered entities to provide an accounting of disclosures upon a request made by an individual. Coordinating the efforts to track this information throughout a health care facility now poses a definite challenge. Many departments outside of the H.I.M. department disclose PHI on a regular basis and typically have not tracked these disclosures.
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Our HIP-IQ software will electronically track and provide the capability to report non-mandated, as well as mandated, disclosures throughout a health care facility. It is all encompassing, inexpensive, user-friendly and easy to install. You do not have to be an R.O.I. client to benefit from this software.
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HIP-IQ software is considered a repository for disclosed PHI for a health care facility. For those departments already utilizing software to track PHI mandated by the state, HIP-IQ can import data and populate other required reporting fields easily. HIP-IQ imports IQ data as well, which allows for generating a requested Accounting of Disclosure report from one central location.
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Due to HIP-IQ’s ease of installation and modest software costs, it very easily provides a HIPAA-compliant solution for a health care facility of any size.
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Features of HIP-IQ <br/><br/>
Electronically documenting all trackable disclosures mandated and non-mandated by the HIPAA Privacy Rule <br/><br/>
Flagging any restrictions placed by a patient and accepted by a health care facility
Capability to upload mandated trackable data in an ASCII format already in an existing system (i.e. Cancer Registry, Tumor Registry) <br/><br/>
Providing mandated reports, as well as ad-hoc reports, for audit control and performance improvement <br/><br/>
Utilizing individualized passwords with varying levels of security access <br/><br/>
Ability to customize and meet your facility’s specific needs by tracking your frequent requestors, listing your designated record set and building site specific categories for the various tracking fields that may be unique to your health care facility
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MRView Features<br/>
MRView offers various modules to image (digitize) the hard copy documents, capture existing electronic documents, import existing imaged documents, export imaged documents outside of the health care facility, electronically sign documents and manage the coding process. MRView can be customized to meet your facility’s needs. This scalable solution can be utilized enterprise-wide or by a department.
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In keeping pace with the ever-changing world of technology, MRView is constantly evolving to offer the latest features. All MRView software components are an integral part of the MRView Imaging Solution and meets or exceeds HIPAA compliance.
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MRView Modules<br/>
MRView CORE End User Software <br/>
MRView CORE Scanning Software <br/>
CAR Collect <br/>
Discrepancy Report <br/>
MRReport <br/>
MRHomeCode <br/>
MRSignature <br/><br/>
MRView CORE End User Software – This module allows the capability to retrieve, view, edit and print scanned/indexed documents for use on the network. Versatile printing capabilities allow printing one document, a range of documents, an entire visit or an entire record. The audit trail tracks detailed information on scanning, viewing, printing and editing, as well as who has accessed the audit trail. There are various levels of security created to access patient information in a protected manner. Multi-user access capability is provided for these records. <br/><br/>
MRView imaging system provides additional benefits:<br/>
Instant access due to hard drive technology <br/>
Record lock-outs for legal and HIPAA purposes <br/>
No purging/archiving is needed due to unlimited availability of storage for images <br/>
Standard TIFF images utilized for importing/exporting images <br/>
Remote access capabilities for off-site coding, billing and physician offices <br/>
Reporting capabilities <br/>
Auto log off (time-based) <br/>
Split screen functionality for coding and billing services <br/>
Flag capability for research tracking <br/>
Conditional user access <br/>
Customized MRView software capabilities <br/><br/>
MRView CORE Scanning Software – MRView’s scanning and indexing software module allows the capability to input all qualified documents. Customized presets are also created after identifying the hospital’s forms that need higher resolution scanning. The module can also identify documents using most barcode technology or an OCR recognition method that allows retrieval to the page level.<br/><br/>
C.A.R. Collect (C.O.L.D. Software) – This software enhances the entire system by collecting data from either HL7 feeds or ASCII reports. C.A.R. Collect compiles ASCII data as it is sent to a serial interface (standard printer) using advanced C.O.L.D. technology and requires no costly interfaces. It will recognize, sort, index and file data from any lab, radiology and other ancillary systems that presently print hard copy reports. It then automatically merges this ASCII data with digitized documents from the scanning station thus creating an electronic unit record. By utilizing C.A.R. Collect capabilities, the scanning/indexing process can be bypassed for documents generated from the health information system, saving both time and money. <br/><br/>
Discrepancy Report – This ad-hoc module captures a query and lists all the patients that visited the various departments (i.e. ER Department) that have no images scanned into the electronic patient folder/visit. The Discrepancy Report can be utilized by the H.I.M. department and other departments to assure that all qualified medical record documents are received and imaged. This information will also aid in the billing and coding process to assure all qualified documents have been sent to these crucial areas. Valuable time will be saved, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing overall costs associated with the billing process. <br/><br/>
MRReport – This customized module can monitor the MRView imaging system at predetermined times and extract select images based on user-defined filter rules. These images are then sorted to match a user’s preferences and are either batch printed or batch saved in a digital format where they can be forwarded, either physically or electronically, to a billing or coding service. This customized program can also be used to comply with many upcoming state/federal requirements for transferring information electronically.
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MRHomeCode – A component of MRView that will allow the hospital to deliver images, assign records, monitor productivity and provide reporting for home-based coders.
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MRSignature – A component of MRView that will assist physicians in reviewing and signing medical records electronically.
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Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about our products and services.
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Midwest Medical Record Association, Inc.<br/>
999 Plaza Drive, Suite 690<br/>
Schaumburg, IL 60173 <br/>
telephone: [800] 930-MMRA <br/>
fax: [847] 413-9662 <br/>
email: info@mmrainc.com<br/>
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