I can remember when fax machines were coming into the market.  Not many people had them.  I needed to fax some documents.  I got in my car, drove to the office of one of my husband’s business associates and faxed the documents.  This sure was an inefficient way to send information but it demonstrates where technology was in 1991.

A few years later, I started my own research and development using fax machines as a way to send information electronically.  The only means we had at the time were fax machines that could also scan and store the documents and send them at a delayed time.  I bought a fax machine/scanner and scanned documents and set it up to fax the documents at a later time.  I thought, we could replace copiers we were using in the HIM departments and send medical records to requesters on these fax machine/scanners at night.  The only problem here was the number of documents we were faxing and scanning (huge amounts) and the band width at the time for a fax machine.  It was like trying to get peanut butter through a straw.  I gave up on this idea and a few years later moved onto creating a program that would allow us to send records electronically to requesters.  Our first CopyMed Secure was created.  I was so excited about this program and to be able to tell our customers that we could send records electronically with the information encrypted and a record made of each transmission of information.  Since we had many customers complaining that they did not get the documents we mailed to them, I thought CopyMed Secure would be an answer to our prayers.  I even envisioned using CopyMed Secure for all of the continuing care requests we fulfill each day.  Unfortunately my idea was ahead of it’s time.  Attorneys and insurance companies and state disability determination departments like the electronic documents.  Clinics and hospitals wanted to receive these reports as paper.

Some enhancements were made to CopyMed Secure and we renamed it to CMInfoSecure.  Upgrading and enhancing CMInfoSecure had to be done.  We are in the process of getting some upgrades done and in a short time will be using a new and enhanced version of CMInfoSecure.  With this new version, the time has come to utilize CMInfoSecure for continuing care requests. Delays in mailing records can no longer be tolerated.  Lost mail is also a problem.  Records faxed to a wrong number or faxed when the fax machine is already in use is also a problem.  Healthcare needs the information we send in realtime.  Decisions on patient care can’t wait for tomorrow’s mail.

The baby steps taken have lead to walking, jumping and sprinting. What we have done is solved some small problems by looking at how we were doing things.  Our vision now is to create a standardized format for sending medical information to the medical provider. I believe my vision is starting to take place.  We’ll keep you posted on our progress.   For more information please go to our website at:  www.cminfospec.com. 

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