Your healthcare organization is in the market for a document management and imaging (DMI) system. There are dozens of vendors in the space, and each offers something at least slightly different than the others. It’s a huge investment and there isn’t room for error. Where do you begin your search for a standout vendor and product? Perhaps with a new report from KLAS titled, “Enterprise DMI: Finding the Right Stepping-Stone to Full EMR.

Hyland Software one of the “clear document management and imaging leaders” according to new KLAS report

Your healthcare organization is in the market for a document management and imaging (DMI) system. There are dozens of vendors in the space, and each offers something at least slightly different than the others. It’s a huge investment and there isn’t room for error. Where do you begin your search for a standout vendor and product? Perhaps with a new report from KLAS titled, “Enterprise DMI: Finding the Right Stepping-Stone to Full EMR.”

KLAS is a research firm that helps healthcare providers make informed technology decisions. It offers accurate, honest, and impartial vendor performance information. The experiences of more than 400 organizations with over 30 DMI vendors were used to create this report.

In terms of overall performance, the report calls Hyland Software one of the “clear DMI leaders.” OnBase rated as one of the top two DMI solutions on the market. Ninety-eight percent listed Hyland as the best or one of their best vendors. It also says: “Hyland has maintained high performance over the five years that KLAS has measured Hyland customers’ satisfaction. Hyland’s greatest strength is its product, which is typically implemented widely in hospitals.”

“Providers put OnBase to work across entire organizations in part because it’s so well-rounded,” said Susan deCathelineau, healthcare manager for Hyland Software. “It’s proven in clinical, revenue and administrative settings. OnBase is also flexible. Yes, it’s an enterprise solution. But it’s built to grow when providers are ready. Some start with OnBase in a single area like medical records. Others immediately roll it out to every part of their organizations. That this is all possible with a single solution from one vendor is tremendously important. It allows consistent information to be available to everyone, regardless of department, when, where and how it’s needed.”

One particular provider comment included in the report perhaps says it best: “I like the flexibility of this product. Basically, we can build whatever anybody needs and customize it, moving it from department to department and using the same core functionality. It manages both our clinical and financial documents and provides good search functionality across all types of data. I can’t see anywhere that Hyland can improve. As we come up with features we would like to see, Hyland puts them in. Also, Hyland listens seriously to our suggestions.”

“Our customers drive everything that we do,” said deCathelineau. “An exceptionally strong user group, for instance, plays a critical role in recommending solutions that will help our customers now. Take, for instance, our new RAC product. An immediate need was expressed, and in a few short months, we’d worked with some of our customers who participated in the nationwide RAC program pilot to build a solution. Today, it’s one of only six products on the initial list of those that the American Hospital Association (AHA) named RACTrac Compatible. The bottom line is that if our customers aren’t successful and happy then neither are we.”

The report also states: “A strong DMI solution can increase comfort with new technology and trust in the IT staff; however, a frustrating or unreliable system can make clinicians skittish about electronic medical record (EMR) adoption and the IT staff’s ability to support this transition.”

“OnBase is an ideal bridge for any organization to an EMR strategy,” said deCathelineau. “It has the breadth to be that go-to for organizations that haven’t made the leap to an EMR system. At the same time it’s built to seamlessly and easily integrate with virtually any EMR. This is especially important because as much as 30 percent of all content, such as EKG results, digital photos and videos, exists outside of it. EMR vendors bundle in their own DMI solutions to manage this type of information. But this report shows that the best DMI products aren’t add-ons. They’re from specialists like Hyland that are only focused on one thing, and that’s building and supporting a quality DMI system that helps providers to be more efficient and effective.”

For more information about KLAS, its rankings and the “Enterprise DMI: Finding the Right Stepping-Stone to Full EMR” report, go to www.KLASresearch.com. Copyright 2009 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved.

To learn more about Hyland Software’s healthcare solutions, visit www.OnBase.com/healthcare .