Dr Morton & Partners is a large radiology business, with over 20,000 patients passing through its nine Western Cape-based practices every month. Each patient visit generates a plethora of documentation: a GP referral letter, proof of medical aid, medical aid authorisation (when needed) and other clinical information.

A job card is created for every patient at the relevant practice and unique reference numbers are allocated for each visit. Administration for all the nine practices is done centrally and patient documents are sent to the admin office daily.

FirstCoast started working with Dr Morton & Partners in 2003 to help them to:

• Set up a process whereby all patient information could be captured and stored digitally - quickly and easily
• Create a centralised repository of patient data which could be accessed immediately and searched by staff at any of the nine practices.

Using Scamax M06 and Avision flatbed (FB1200) scanners, and the OpenText Alchemy document management system, FirstCoast's solution in this case involved providing a bureau solution to Dr Morton & Partners.

With a direct line to the admin department and a broadband connection, documentation is scanned and indexed according to the unique patient visit number. Because of the direct connection, these documents, including the radiologist's report, are available immediately for reference at the click of a mouse.

FirstCoast's bureau service has now been serving Dr Morton & Partners with excellence for over six years.

Technical information:

The products that FirstCoast uses to streamline Dr Morton & Partners' patient information are:

• Avision flatbed (FB1200) scanners: Desktop scanners for documents sized A4 and smaller.
• Inotec Scamax M06 150 page scanners: For fast, high quality scanning of larger volumes.
• OpenText Alchemy: For creating a digital archive and searchable materials.

More information

For more information or to find out how FirstCoast can help your company manage patient or other customer documentation and records, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it on +27 (0) 861 313 300.

Contact First Coast Technologies to see what we could do for you.