In a deal worth R1,5 million, Discovery Health, South Africa`s premier healthcare insurance and services company, has implemented Exsol`s Document Imaging System (DIS) to process and manage its medical aid claims electronically.
The deal includes DIS, four large-scale image scanners from Kodak and Bell & Howell and a 500 platter Pioneer CD-ROM jukebox for near-line archive storage.
"We needed to become more efficient with the significant growth in our business over the past year," says Discovery Health executive Tanya Sikes. "Optimising our paper processing and reducing our storage burden are fundamental steps to reaching this goal."
DIS directly addressed one of the major stumbling blocks in Discovery`s service to its clients - claims that would previously take up to 24 hours to retrieve are now processed instantly.
"The system is designed to process all incoming documents, more than 30 000 a day," says Exsol sales director Grant O`Connor. "Documents are scanned on receipt, endorsed (stamped) automatically and filed away for retrieval according to their stamped claim number."
Electronic documents that have reached a predetermined expiry date are moved over to the Pioneer jukebox for near-line storage.
"Archived documents are still accessible with an average retrieval time no longer than 15 seconds," adds O`Connor.
Sikes says the business benefits Discovery has realised and will continue to realise from the DIS system will translate directly to benefits for its clients.
"Because our consultants have instant access to any claims form, our clients are assured of the fastest possible service in response to their queries and markedly increased productivity in our internal claims processing system," she says. "The results are faster, more timely and accurate account queries, and the highest possible security for the confidential and sensitive information in our care."
The system will further reduce Discovery`s operational cost for the volume of processed documents, averaging R5 for every 10 000 documents, or 0,0005c per document.
"There`s no avoiding the real business benefits of an automated, intelligent document management system in today`s competitive enterprise," concludes O`Connor.
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