Collaborative Laboratory Services of Hartford, Conn. installs RICAR suite, including FreeWf (workflow) to manage laboratory documents and billing

Ann Arbor, MI: Collaborative Laboratory Services of St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, CT has installed Freedom's RICAR Document Management system with its laboratory billing workflow processor FreeWf.

RICAR is a fully scalable document and content management solution that is easily modified to fit the needs of any type of business.  RICAR processes and manages content and documents of all types, including explanation of benefits and laboratory requisitions.  RICAR is a software system that can be utilized among many fields and across every department.  RICAR also provides users with a complete audit trail, making regulatory compliance effortless.

Collaborative Laboratory Systems decided to purchase and implement Freedom’s RICAR system when they identified the need for a document management system within their laboratory and billing departments. Using the scanning, viewing, and workflow applications of the RICAR suite has made the work within these departments much more efficient.  Freedom’s RICAR system is now capturing, indexing, and streamlining their daily document processing of laboratory requisitions and Explanations of Benefits (EOBs).

The laboratory department of Collaborative Labs scans requisitions with barcodes created from a Sunquest Laboratory Information system. As these are scanned, the RICAR system matches them with the patient’s current HL7 file. All of the information on these documents is then turned into searchable index fields. Any verified user with security clearance can then retrieve and review requisitions which will assist in preparing and completing the testing process. Documents are automatically placed in a Billing Data Entry workflow queues for immediate claims creation.

The billing department of Collaborative Labs currently processes nearly 25,000 accounts per month. It receives ERA/835 files from about 70-80% of their payers. Prior to the implementation of RICAR, they went through a lengthy paper process of physically printing the ERA/835s and sending them offsite for scanning by a costly service bureau. With the help of the RICAR system, their process is now internal, paperless, and tremendously expedited.

One of the most important long term benefits of the RICAR system lies in its return on investment (ROI). Collaborative Labs is already experiencing an immediate ROI by eliminating its costly outsourced offsite scanning.

The components of the RICAR system installed at Collaborative Laboratory Services include:

• FreeScan access for capturing documents via scanner
• FreeImport for importing any non-scanned file types into the management system such as Word, Excel, PDF documents, Faxes, JPEGS, WMV and MP3 files.
• FreeView access allowing for less than three second document retrieval from Virtual File Cabinets straight to desktops.
• FreeWf access for assigning documents specific indexes for fast retrieval.
• FreeReports access for reporting productivity, document access and statistical activity.

Collaborative Laboratory Services has over 25 years of experience serving the outpatient community. A cooperative service of Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center and Bristol Hospital, Collaborative Laboratory Services offers full-service routine chemistry, hematology, blood drawing and screenings and services at locations throughout Connecticut. (source: http://www.stfranciscare.org)

Freedom Imaging Systems has been a pioneer in the field of document management since 1995. Evolving with the dynamic industry of enterprise content management, Freedom offers small and large businesses alike the tools they need to streamline their business processes. Freedom provides everything a business needs to collect, capture, store and manage data of any kind. In 1995, Freedom created the first version of RICAR (Record Image Capture And Retrieval), their breakthrough document management solution.

RICAR is fully scalable and is easily modified to fit the needs of any type of business. RICAR processes and manages documents ranging from employment applications to explanation of benefits records, for customers ranging from car dealerships to clinical laboratories. RICAR is a software system that can be utilized among many fields and across every department. RICAR also provides users with a complete audit trail making regulatory compliance effortless.

For additional information please contact:
Freedom Imaging Systems
Phone: 734-327-5600
Email: information@freeimage.com