PRN Medical Services – Texas
“The decision-making took us two months, but that was mainly because it seemed too good to be true. Another company wanted almost half a million dollars just to get started, and they didn’t have anything more to offer than Contentverse.”
PRN Medical is different from most companies who install a document management system. They weren’t even looking for one. PRN was in the market for a new copy machine.
Paper really didn’t bother them
PRN Medical is a medical equipment company that directly serves consumers. Having specialized in selling urological supplies, PRN expanded to include respiratory and home medical equipment, nutritional products, and custom power wheelchairs.
As far as paper volume is concerned, PRN is exactly like many other companies. They have tons of paper files. Orders come from hospitals or doctors and are accompanied by a full scope of medical records. Each account has 10 to 60 pages of documentation.
Occasionally, they are called upon to retrieve a file or a document within a file. Most of the time, they can manually look for a file in their office. Retrieval is especially unpleasant if they have to go into the warehoused boxes of archived files and “fight the spiders” to get a paper file. The boxes contained the files of closed accounts that PRN legally had to retain for seven years. PRN was growing significantly and rendered their office space too small to accommodate their needs. Once in their new office space, they utilized rolling files so they could store exponentially more paper than they could have stored in their previous location. They did notice, however, that even the rolling files had limits. Soon, it became apparent that in the next couple of years, they would need an electronic document management solution. Space was not the only reason to consider implementing document management. There were other signals that the days of paper files may end. Doctors would soon transition to electronic prescribing. This development would require medical equipment supply companies to implement electronic systems compatible with the systems physicians would use.
Still, PRN didn’t panic.
“We Just Need a New Copy Machine.”
Samantha Lund, PRN Medical’s Office Manager, met with a local machine manufacturer representative to discuss a copy machine. Their discussion evolved into how a networked copy machine could be a component in an overall electronic document management solution. Lund was mildly impressed, but certainly not ready to spring into action. She politely waited, anticipating that the discussion would eventually lead to the astronomical upfront charges she had come to associate with electronic document management.
More document management discussions ensued between Lund and the local representative. Lund played along, reviewed the features and benefits of Contentverse while considering what would be the most important features for PRN. “We needed something smart enough to handle the complexity of multifaceted files, and simple enough for end users to enjoy using. But honestly, I was waiting for the big up front cost.”
Still, not convinced that they needed a document management system, PRN bought new copy machines. “We had no intention of buying,” says Lund. In the system analysis they took actual PRN documents and created electronic files to demonstrate all the processes of storage and retrieval that PRN could use. “We thought the system worked great! Then we thought, oh no, here it comes. Here comes the price,” says Lund, “but that’s not what happened. In fact, there was no up-front payment at all. Zero.”
No up-front costs certainly made the deal attractive, but the question then became how much PRN would have to pay on the back end. Again, Lund was pleasantly surprised. When they compared the cost they were already paying to lease multiple copy machines, they found that they could make the same monthly payment and cover the cost of Contentverse.
“We were so pleasantly surprised, that we just had to have it. Contentverse, including a copier, two scanners, and 24/7 remote monitoring ended up costing approximately the same as we previously paid for leases on copiers! That made it a no-brainer.”
Installation
It took two weeks to get the software designed to PRN’s specifications. Then, it took a day to install. Since then, PRN has been feeding the system by hiring people to work all day to scan the backlog of 5 million pieces. They estimate it will take about a year to scan the backlog, but they are using the system now. All new paper orders are scanned into Contentverse every day.
From the front end to the back end, PRN employees find Contentverse easy to use. Each day they process 800 new documents so time is of the essence. To speed up the workflow, they utilize a Contentverse feature that enables them to scan documents and automatically place them directly into the correct files without having to type in a lot of indexing. “That’s everyone’s favorite feature,” says Lund, “because it saves a lot of time.”
“The other favorite feature of Contentverse is its retrieval capability, because it is very easy to use,” says Lund. “If people make filing mistakes, the system lets you search inside documents using a text search. You can always find what you need. In the old paper system, one misfiling and the document could be lost forever.” Additionally, Lund and the PRN staff appreciate having the ability to fax or email directly from Contentverse.
Conclusion
Says Lund, “Contentverse has helped us streamline the operation to the point where it freed an entire person. So, now we have two receptionists instead of one, and customers are never kept waiting.”
When describing Contentverse, Lund always comes back to the value. “We feel we got the best possible value. We’ve upgraded our entire system to Contentverse at virtually the same cost we used to spend leasing copy machines. You simply can’t beat the value of Contentverse.”