Impact Factor : 6.225 
PAPER ID:IJIM/V.II(IV)/245-248 /36
AUTHOR: Dr. Manjushri Sharma
TITLE: HEALTH RECORDS MANAGEMENT: AN ESSENTIAL PRE-REQUISITE TO OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE IN HOSPITALS
ABSTRACT: Healthcare organizations of today are pro-actively seeking cost effective ways to bring about operational excellence in their processes. This is because not only does thisensure a better financial performance, but also helps bolster the systems to better handle the ever-changing patient expectations. Scientific research, and experiences of healthcare providers, now points towards management of patient’s record as the most crucial element in this regard. In fact, gone are the days when hospitals could rely on patient data spreadsheets, because most of theanalytical tools cannot be applied on to them. In order to skim out relevant reports for strategy formulations, hospitals need to document and manage the health records in such a way that it is amenable to being monitored by all employees, from top to bottom. This removes the reliance of health care providers on IT teams for generating reports that are, more often than not, unsatisfactory. Not only does this self-reliance ensure faster report turnover, butit also brings in a culture of accountability at all levels, thereby decreasing the frequency of errors at the potential failure modes in hospitals.
KEYWORDS: Health records management, operational excellence, failure modes