Securely storing your employee medical data is absolutely essential. These documents contain sensitive information about their health, health leave, health benefits, and a lot of other sensitive information that needs to be retained and protected.

Unfortunately, storing these types of documents isn’t always easy. The security standards for the storage have high requirements, so paper records have been a complicated issue that many businesses have struggled to handle.

The good news is that today, there are ways to store and save the documents more effectively, reducing the risk of records getting lost or deteriorating from other factors.

Let’s explore what types of documents need to be stored and then go through a couple of options that you should consider.

What Types of Record Need to be Stored?

Before we get into the details of the ways you can store documents, we need to look at the types of records that will need to be stored. Understanding how many types of documents you will need to keep track of and protect will help better see the implications when considering different storage options.

Some of the typical documents that businesses must keep include the health and life insurance documents, employee benefits related to medical information, medical and/or family leave documents, just to name a few of the core documents.

Some of the others include medically-related leave documentation, medical examination results, medical job restrictions, and workers’ compensation for injury.

The list above is not conclusive, but it allows seeing just how many different types of documents need to be stored, secured, and sorted to ensure compliance and avoid running into issues in the future.

Options for Storing Records

For a long time, before medical records scanning became popular, the only option businesses had was to store vital employee documents on-site.

The only possible improvement was trying to at least develop an organized system that would make document retrieval easier and minimize the risk of something going missing.

However, as enterprise document management system solutions become more popular, many companies today are choosing to shift their medical and other records into a digital format, even though the process can seem complicated and lengthy.

Let’s explore some of the ways you can store documents today and look at how each of the options can impact your security and day-to-day operations.

Store Paper Documents

The most primitive way to store employee records is to have them in your office as paper documents. But many companies still use dedicated storage rooms for medical and other records, which causes numerous inconveniences and also puts the records in danger of getting lost or damaged.

What’s more, because these types of records are usually hard to organize effectively, people who need to retrieve medical documents have to sort through multiple files before finding what they’re looking for, reducing productivity.

With the document management technology advancing each year and medical record scanning becoming more popular, it’s only a matter of time until paper records will be eliminated because of just how inefficient using them can be.

However, if you are still using paper storage for safeguarding your employee’s medical information, you should at least take all of the possible precautions to protect them.

Make the room as secure as possible, maintain a consistent temperature and humidity, and establish a strict logging system to track when documents are checked out and returned.

If you maintain a well-organized paper document storage, you will also have an easier time transitioning to digital when you finally decide to do so.

Manual Digital Document Storage

Some companies that start the digitization process end up in a sort of in-between zone where they no longer deal with paper documents but also don’t use an enterprise document management system.

What ends up happening, in this case, is that documents are stored either in a server or on computers, being accessed only by the people who have the actual files.

Using spreadsheets to track documents is not a good approach when there are so many more convenient and useful alternatives. Today’s medical document management for small businesses   can help automate many processes, so making the switch from this type of system as soon as possible is the only right choice.

Sure, it might be better than having paper documents, as at least this way, the records are in a digital format and can be backed up. But other security issues can arise, not to mention the fact that your team will still have to spend time searching for and sharing the documents manually.

Invest in a Robust Medical Document Management System

If you decide to go digital, it’s only right that you should at least enjoy the full potential that it can offer. The process does take time and effort, so you should make sure that you not only eliminate paper records but also use a system that enables your team to work more effectively.

Storing medical records has many rules and regulations, including how long you must keep certain documents, so having a comprehensive system will enable you to automate many processes and minimize the risk of something going missing.

What’s more, if you use a cloud-based system, your team members will have access to the documents wherever they might be, which is also crucial in a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has made working remotely an essential part of running a company.

Today, you can find professional document scanning services providers who will have expertise in not only transferring the documents into a digital format but also in finding the best way to manage the digital files once they are ready.

Some of these companies even have experience working with medical records. They can offer you guidance on how to best set up your processes so that you can minimize the time and attention that document management and protection takes away.

If you’re still unsure about where to get started with document digitization, finding an expert to consult with can be a great first step you can take as soon as today.