Niagara region hospitals to scan millions of records

HAMILTON, Ont. – Hamilton’s Bay Area Records Conversion (BARC) has entered into a five-year contract to scan inpatient records for the Niagara Health System. The preliminary phase of the contract requires some six million pages to be converted to digital format from the Douglas Memorial Site in Fort Erie, Greater Niagara General Site in Niagara Falls, Port Colborne Site, St. Catharines Site and Welland Site.

“We selected Bay Area Records Conversion based on a number of considerations that were critical to the NHS,” says Jane Doan (pictured), director of Health Information Management and Patient Registration. “They were experienced with a project of this magnitude, and met the requirements on price, quality, turnaround time, privacy and security. The company has a good reputation and we look forward to a mutually beneficial customer-supplier relationship.”

BARC is a document management company that specializes in digitizing medical records, and offers complete electronic document management services. The company digitizes and electronically manages confidential documents for both public and private sector clients, including hospitals, physicians, lawyers, researchers, community based health service providers, financial institutions, architects, engineers and government agencies.

“We’re delighted to be adding the Niagara Health System to our list of satisfied clients,” says Peggy van Wyck, BARC’s business manager. “Since our establishment in 2003, we’ve helped dozens of businesses and organizations manage their documents, save money and reduce their space requirements.”

Bay Area Records Conversion is a division of Bay Area Health Trust, which operates a number of enterprises designed to generate profits. The profits are used to support healthcare and healthcare research in our communities. www.baht.ca

The Niagara Health System is a multi-site hospital amalgamation comprised of six sites serving 434,000 residents across the 12 municipalities making up the Regional Municipality of Niagara.