October 2004

Use office equipment to save overhead costs

The best use of office equipment can help you save overhead costs, says Ben Perry, national healthcare sales manager at Brother, Inc. Speaking at the Medical Group Management Association’s annual conference in San Francisco, Perry listed eight ways to get more out of office equipment:

1. Maximize limited office space. Consider all-in-one machine that integrates a printer, fax, copier, color scanner or PC fax into one small, space-saving unit.

2. Don't overpay. Calculate the total cost of ownership for equipment. Include everything — initial acquisition costs, supplies, service options and support programs.

3. Ensure patient confidentiality. Make sure your fax machine, printer or all-in-one machine allows you to set a personal password to ensure patient confidentiality when sending or printing medical records and other patient information. Further safeguard your medical records by securely scanning them to the network or to a PDF file so that they cannot be altered.

4. Reduce the paper. Choose a printer with two-sided (duplex) printing, so you can print documents on both sides of paper for compact medical record storage and lowered paper costs.

5. Save staff time and improve productivity. Buy a system that can handle the demands of your office. Consider, for example, a system with dual-access capability so you can copy, print or perform color scanning while faxing.

6. Upgrade your fax machine. Make sure your fax is at least 33.6K bps to optimize transmission speed for coverage verification and claims submission. Keep in mind that faxes are transmitted at the speed of the slowest machine, so by choosing a high-speed fax, you also ensure efficiency for other high-speed fax users.

7. Use flexible, abrasion-resistant labels. Use a labeling solution that can print address labels, custom signage, badges, photos and anything else you can see on a PC screen. Further, use abrasion-resistant laminated labels that don't deteriorate in light, water, or chemicals to ensure that the information you need remains intact and readable.

8. Select a vendor with a responsive support network. To keep you working in your busy group practice environments, make sure your office equipment vendor can adapt to your unique situation and provide prompt and flexible on-site support or quick turnaround time on replacement units, should you need them. This should be done without undue additional costs.

Source: Brother, Inc., www.brother.com.

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