Eight hours or more a day and three weeks — that’s how long it takes to scan more than 12,000 records in the Chattanooga Vet Center office.
For the last two weeks and into this coming week, workers with DOMA Technologies, a Virginia Beach, Va.-based document management company, have been converting thick stacks of counseling files into digital copies. Some of the records date back decades.
The combination of existing veterans with counseling needs coupled with retiring veterans and returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans shows a need for improved records management, said Michael Bearden, counselor at the Chattanooga Vet Center.
“We’ve grown considerably; we’re growing even more,” he said. “We’re in the 21st century, it’s time to start acting like we’re in the 21st century.”
The center is one of 232 community-based counseling centers across the VA system.
In Chattanooga, there are about 12,400 files, some containing hundreds of pages to scan. As of Thursday, DOMA workers had scanned nearly 6,000 files containing nearly 90,000 pages.
The workers use double-sided scanners that can copy 90 pages a minute and work in an assembly-line fashion, with one worker removing papers from the hole-punched file, flattening creases and removing staples.
At the center, plastic tubs filled with records enter the room and exit in the same order. All pages remain intact and in the same order as when the workers began scanning, said Kenneth Moses, DOMA team leader and U.S. Army veteran.
“Within six minutes of scanning, the record is in the database in Virginia,” he said.
The database is networked among all veterans centers for an instant access to records.
Mr. Bearden said that’s especially helpful for veterans who move for work, family or other reasons.
* 12,400 — Records to be scanned at Chattanooga Vet Center* 160,000 — Estimated number of total pages to be scanned* 90 — Pages per minute the scanners can copy* 232 — Number of community-based counseling centers in the VA system* 7 — Number of workers used to scan documents at a center the size of Chattanooga’s* 3 — Number of weeks needed to scan all documents at the center
“We’re going to have it so, no matter where in the nation (the veteran) goes to, the other vet center will be able to pick up where he left off,” he said.
Electronics record-keeping has existed for years within the medical wing of Veterans Affairs, but with recent growth in both the number of counseling centers and those in need of assistance, records management needed an overhaul, Mr. Bearden said.
Each record is tracked and extensive security measures exist to keep personal information protected, he said. The computer system will not allow computers on the system to access Web sites or download information that does not pass the security filter.
The system also tracks who has viewed the record.