Aschaffenburg-Alzenau Clinic: Digitization starts in the mailroom

Note: This article was originally written in German. This is an auto-generated translation of that original article.

Many companies, public authorities and hospitals are faced with the challenge of digitizing their incoming mail. Who doesn't know the typical mailrooms with wall compartments where the mail is sorted? With the increasing use of digital processes and new flexible ways of working with home office options, this is no longer appropriate. For these reasons, the Aschaffenburg-Alzenau Clinic has also tackled the digitization of its mailroom. It received expert support from Pitney Bowes, which provided assistance with everything from consulting, planning, installation and configuration of the processes to instruction.

The Aschaffenburg-Alzenau Clinic receives around 300 letters a day, each consisting of an average of three to five sheets of paper. Provided the addressee was clearly identifiable, these were manually sorted into stacks, which were then distributed to the appropriate compartments in the incoming mail area. Around 100 items per day had to be opened manually to assign them to an addressee. There they were then picked up by employees and brought to the respective departments. This process is very time-consuming and due to the lack of digitization of incoming mail, it was only available on site and not in the home office, which delayed the processing time. Although individual documents had already been scanned locally, a higher-level and automated workflow for forwarding them to downstream systems was previously lacking.

In order to improve processing time and data availability, a solution was sought that would digitize incoming mail and then distribute it via automated workflows. Another requirement was the option of an interface to the existing Pegasos Nexus-Marabu digital archive system. Pitney Bowes, with its many years of experience in digitizing mailrooms, recommended the Kodak Alaris S3060f scanner and Capture Pro capture solution for this project.

Efficient processes thanks to precise data

With the KODAK S3060f and KODAK Capture Pro software combination, employees at the Aschaffenburg-Alzenau Clinic can now access their mail from home and process it on the same day. The scanner's excellent batch processing, regardless of paper weight or format, was convincing, and it can also easily process small documents or cards. Thanks to ultrasonic technology, misfeeds or double feeds are immediately detected and the feed is stopped before paper jams or damaged documents occur. In addition, the integrated Perfect Page image processing technology always ensures the best image quality, even with difficult originals. Even crumpled or faded originals are reproduced perfectly. A total of 30 state-of-the-art automated functions ensure perfect and consistently straight images, without sacrificing speed. The excellent image quality ensures a high level of accuracy in optical character recognition (OCR), which is extremely important for retrieving documents. For optimal data protection, the image files are only stored in a temporary memory in the scanner and are deleted at the latest when the scanner is switched off.

More than just a scanning solution

KODAK Capture Pro is an advanced capture solution that reliably automates processes. To do this, scan jobs can be predefined so that recurring routine tasks, even with multi-level requirements such as file format, resolution, and destination folder, can be completed with a single click of the mouse. It also offers the option of classifying, extracting and validating the digitized forms, as well as forwarding and integrating them into downstream systems. The decisive factor in the decision was, on the one hand, the available interfaces of the scanning solution, which enable easy connection to existing systems, such as the Pegasos Nexus-Marabu digital archiving system, and thus automated workflows. In addition, the ability to read metadata was also crucial to the choice.

The advantages at a glance

The digitization of incoming mail brings significant advantages, above all the fact that time-critical documents such as laboratory reports are available immediately, and that time is saved for the clerks. Another advantage is the ability to quickly find files. In addition, employees can now process their incoming mail on a daily basis while working from home, as it is digitally available at all times. The KODAK S3060f also offers a range of security features, including secure transmission of scanned data using SLS encryption and storage on the device in a temporary memory that is completely deleted when the scanner is switched off. KODAK Capture Pro is flexibly scalable and can therefore grow with increasing volumes, making it a future-proof solution.

Mr. Michael Aulbach (Head of Patient Administration), Klinikum Aschaffenburg: “Pitney Bowes not only provided us with the best advice, but also with competent support in implementing this project. We are very satisfied with the recommended KODAK scanner, as it is not only easy to use, but also extremely reliable when handling paper and delivers the best image quality. We have been able to achieve significant productivity increases with the digital mailroom, particularly in the commercial-technical area.”