Optical character recognition (OCR) software: How it is used in the medical and health care sector

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is used in the medical and health care sector to convert printed patient records to searchable PDFs. Digitization of health records and  OCR conversion of medical reports, laboratory test results, and other medical records enhance the searchability of these documents. OCR application can help a health care organization to go paperless and improve the way they digitally store patient records for future use. Searchable PDFs are text-searchable and can be indexed in the patient management system. OCR software can help you to get rid of lots of manual processes for patient data retrieval. After scanned PDF to searchable PDF conversion, information in these records can be easily accessed at any time via search keywords. It is a good practice in the health care sector to add OCR functionality and link OCR converted files to the patient’s electronic health record (EHRs).