Paducah's Lourdes Hospital and parent company Mercy Health are integrating with the federal Social Security Administration in order to speed up the processing of patients’ disability claims.
The SSA’s “Health IT” program uses electronic records of medical histories, shaving weeks off of eligibility determinations.
The switchover from paper records may result in quicker access to public health benefits for patients depending on the outcome of their claim.
“Moving from paper to electronic processes also improves employee productivity, eliminating the need to fax, scan and mail paper records,” said Stephen Beck, chief medical informatics officer at Mercy Health, in a statement.
The new system also reduces the amount of uncompensated care hospitals provide to patients.
The SSA had received documents from more than 500 Mercy Health patients in the first 10 days after going live with the new system.
