The healthcare industry, more than any other industry, has to balance all the different document tasks they perform daily and maintain HIPAA guidelines, at the same time, while providing a perfect experience for clients.

When dealing with health records, you need a quick and efficient way to handle your documents and patient info.

Doing so, healthcare organizations often hold very sensitive data and patient information. 

Which, if got out, might mean paying around $1.6M in fines or data breach costs, according to research. While HIPAA fines can range up to $50,000 per violation, if not more.

If you’re looking to generate and manage patient records and documents with ease, then there are many reasons why you should consider automating document generation.

Doing this manually can be costing you a lot of time and money. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Fortunately, by the end of this guide, you’ll have a much better understanding of why you should consider automated document generation as a healthcare company.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Managing Time-Sensitive Healthcare Communications with Automated Document Generation 
• Top 5 Reasons to Automate Document Generation in Healthcare

Managing Time-Sensitive Healthcare Communications with Automated Document Generation 

Automating document generation is important for any healthcare organization. 

Healthcare and medical organizations need to generate PDF documents that contain sensitive information about patients’ treatments, which means they can’t have any errors. 

If the data within a document isn’t accurate, the document will not be accepted by regulatory bodies, and the hospital’s reputation could be damaged.

The importance of accuracy is heightened in healthcare due to the sensitive nature of patient data. In other industries, if a report has an error, it usually won’t cause much harm to the company or its reputation. 

But in healthcare, an inaccurate medical report could lead to injury or death to a patient. 

If a hospital fails to comply with federal or state laws due to an error in a document, it could lead to severe consequences, including fines, penalties, and even revocation of its license to operate.

As is often the result, healthcare companies often spend more time doing manual tasks that could be automated. 

One example of how automation benefits hospitals are by increasing efficiency with routine tasks, such as updating patient data or medicine doses. Though, there are many ways you can streamline your business operations.

This saves employees valuable time every day since it’s typically completed in only seconds instead of minutes when done manually.

At its core, automated document generation is the process of generating documents without human intervention. 

It can be any type of document or template that’s repeated and often needs to be updated in response to changing circumstances. 

Documents are generated automatically when you customize a template, add content, and click “generate.” What’s more, templates can be created for anything from contracts to invoices. 

Here’s a sample invoice template by HubSpot.

Healthcare companies can use standardized templates like this to automatically generate documents based on customer info.

Usually, the customer info comes in HTML text format, and you can then generate documents based templates that get filled in automatically based on said info.

This simple and straightforward process yields beneficial results that make all the difference in your operations.

Now, let’s cover some processes and templates this helps healthcare companies with.

What healthcare document management processes are automated?

The versatility of automated document management allows you to apply the process to a multitude of applications. 

Some of the most common processes this helps with include:

‍HTML Data Processing: This process can be accomplished by a number of different platforms and software but is most commonly done through either Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

‍HTML data processing often requires less time than other methods of converting information to HTML. For example, if you were copying and pasting information into Microsoft Word, that process would require formatting. 

With HTML data processing, that formatting step has already been done for you, saving you a lot of time in the management of your documents.

PDF Rendering and Formatting: This is the process of applying a design to a PDF file, which can include text styling, logos, graphics, headers, margins, and more. 

Depending on the PDF format that you want to use, this process can be handled by an automated document management system, or it could require manual intervention with a word processing program.

For more information on this, see how it works and industries that need PDF rendering.

‍PDF Copy Storage: PDF copy storage is a process whereby a file is retrieved from the file system and written to disk in PDF format. This is useful when saving a document that will be reused many times.

The PDF copy can then be accessed quickly when needed and is often incorporated into the cloud. This process saves the user time, as they are no longer required to scan the original document each time.

‍PDF Display or Delivery: This is a common automated document management process that allows for fast access to the document in question. Moreover, this can be from either a file on the hard drive or via a connected solution, such as email.

You’ll find your operations functioning much smoother once you implement automated document management.

When looking at what processes to automate, you should also consider your document management lifecycle system. While this is different for all healthcare companies, you should still have an idea of what stages your documents go through in your operations. This includes:

• Document creation.
• Editing and indexing.
• Sharing or delivering the document.
• Using and collaborating on the document.
• Archiving.
• Legally compliant document deletion or destruction.

What healthcare documents and templates to generate automatically (Examples)

Healthcare is a complex and confusing world. Today, there are so many documents that need to be created for doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies. Sometimes, it can seem impossible to make sense of it all. 

These processes are also time-consuming and expensive. 

‍So, how do you make life easier for you, your staff, and your clients? 

Simple, you start by streamlining the process of generating healthcare documents and templates. 

By using powerful tools like Inkit, you can make the process simpler and less time-consuming. 

Some of the most common examples of healthcare documents and templates to generate automatically include:

‍Patient Records: Patient records contain vital information about the patient, such as demographic data and medical data. Automated HTML to PDF conversion will integrate into your healthcare web platform, which then automatically compiles patient records and converts them into PDF. 

‍Patient’s Rights/Responsibilities: These notices must be provided or offered to each patient to ensure that they are aware of your medical facility’s regulations and what kind of rights patients have there. 

Patients who have a telehealth app can receive this document from you electronically via PDF format. This automated process eliminates paper usage in your office and cuts down on time spent preparing documents for each patient.

‍Informed Consent: Every patient must sign this document to verify that they give you permission to treat them. Before automated document generation and management, you had to provide each patient with a physical form, capture their signature on it, and keep the signed document on file.

Nowadays, however, you only need a single form to digitize and keep on file. You can use the same template with every patient, simply keeping a copy of their signature in your system for reference/record.

‍Test Results: More than one healthcare professional often looks at patient test results. Without document automation, you would have to provide an updated copy of the test results to everyone on your staff and applicable sources outside of your office.

With automated document generation, you can readily update test results and other patient files for greater convenience. 

To see what this looks like practically, see our guide on healthcare document management best practices.

Top 5 Reasons to Automate Document Generation in Healthcare

Most healthcare companies spend a lot of time on record-keeping, bookkeeping, patient files, and numerous other documentation. 

According to research, most companies spend up to 2.5 hours each day managing, creating, editing, or searching documents for what they needed.

The following are some of the most common reasons and biggest benefits why healthcare professionals should use automated document generation:

1. Customized fillable form creation

One of the main reasons why the medical industry needs to automate documents is because it allows healthcare professionals to avoid re-entering information manually.

If a form needs to be revised, there’s no need for a doctor or nurse to make changes. With an automated document, they can simply make updates and save the form as-is.

In order for this process to work, you’ll need fillable forms that can be customized with data from your patient records or other business sources. This means that you’ll need software that’s compatible with your existing healthcare software and system. 

2. Central hub storage for document templates

Another way to make life easier is by storing all of your operational documents in a central hub. 

This means that you’ll have access to templates that you can use at any time and for any project. 

The benefit of this is that you won’t have to worry about creating new documents every time or spend so much time on formatting. You can also save money by not having to buy paper, ink, and other supplies for things like printing and faxing.

With a CRM system, you can also store all of those templates in one place and easily access them when the need arises. As a healthcare professional, you should be able to pull up any file within seconds whenever you need it. 

And if you want even more benefits from this type of system, then consider investing in a CRM with an integrated document management system (DMS). That way, everything will be synced together for easy access as soon as it’s needed.

3. Reduced costs

Office supplies add up to big bucks throughout the year. 

When you automate your documents, you can save money on all sorts of unnecessary items. 

For example, when you store operational document templates in a central hub, you’re reducing waste and costs, thereby allowing you to maximize your budget.

According to Formstack:

• US companies spend up to $120M annually on printed documents.
• It costs an average of $20 to file a paper document, $120 to find misfiled documents, and $220 to recreate a lost document.
• And finally, if you're using a paper-based management system, a simple, four-drawer filing cabinet with the capacity to hold up to 11,000 documents costs about $1,500 per year.

Though, there are many other benefits in addition to reducing costs.

See our guide on non-financial paperless operations benefits of leading your organization toward paperless operations.

4. Easy project monitoring

Once you’ve set up your templates and fillable forms, the system will notify you if anything is amiss. Access control and audit logs can also help enhance data sharing, and prevent data leakage and breaches.

Though, there are other essential document generation platform elements you should consider.

You can also upload relevant documents like invoices and purchase orders to keep track of what needs to be done before your clients submit them.

All this ensures that you avoid any costly mistakes. And once your project has been completed, you can export the data in a PDF or spreadsheet format for future use. 

With this information, you can help make faster decisions about future projects or even provide a better customer experience since accessing essential documents is more efficient and easier than ever.

5. Minimize mistakes

The medical industry demands perfection, from patient care to record-keeping. 

When your documents are automated, it is far less likely that you will have mistakes in your records. 

This ensures a better experience for your patients while helping you avoid costly issues that could arise from incorrect or inaccurate data.

Automatically Generating Healthcare Documents With Inkit Render

To recap, automatic document generation has a lot of benefits for healthcare companies. Having a proper document generation and automation system is a huge help for team productivity.

And in some industries like healthcare, PDF generation is a must.

For example, healthcare documents you can automate include medical test results, patient information records, financial statements, and more. And you can automatically generate documents whether you need 10 confidential reports or 100,000 customer statements

Now, if you’re wondering where to go from here, be sure to see how Inkit helps healthcare organizations stay HIPAA compliant with secure document generation and storage!