| About 98% of all the work done inside of a medical | | | | size of the database. As was mentioned above, large |
| billing program involves data entry. Medical billing | | | | companies can have databases that are very large, |
| databases can reach massive proportions. A | | | | especially if they are dealing with thousands of |
| company with thousands of clients can have | | | | patients. Most programs will have a separate |
| databases that are tens of gigabytes in size. | | | | database for patient files, doctor files and so on. So |
| Unfortunately, as databases grow, so do the problems. | | | | getting a good program is the first step to avoid |
| We'll discuss some of the more common data entry | | | | problems. The reason a large database becomes a |
| and database problems and how to fix them or even | | | | problem is because as data increases, along the way, |
| avoid them, when possible. | | | | data is also deleted and modified. This constant |
| One of the main causes of database problems is with | | | | process causes the database to become unstable. |
| the data entry personnel themselves. Each database | | | | Compressing it often, if the software has that option, is |
| program has a certain level of tolerance. Some are | | | | one way to prevent this from happening. Another thing |
| more tolerant than others. Those that are less forgiving | | | | you can do is break up your patient and other files. |
| can come to an abrupt halt when a data entry person | | | | Maybe have all patients A to M in one database and |
| types in data that is invalid. We're not talking about | | | | all N to Z patients in another. Most software programs |
| typing in a wrong address. We're talking about typing in | | | | will give you a way to do this. |
| alphanumeric characters in a numeric field. Most well | | | | Another cause of data problems is the hard drive itself. |
| made programs won't allow this to happen. But the | | | | As this drive is constantly being written to, over time, it |
| ones that do invite serious trouble because this invalid | | | | will begin to wear down. Eventually it will start to lose |
| data can corrupt a database, especially if it happens | | | | data. When this happens, the integrity of your |
| often. At the very least, the program reading the data | | | | database will begin to deteriorate. Bad network |
| will get so confused that it will cease to operate | | | | connections will also cause data to be written poorly. |
| correctly. | | | | This will also cause the data to corrupt. |
| The best way to avoid this problem is to train data | | | | By running regular backups, doing maintenance on your |
| entry personnel properly. Of course, it helps to spend | | | | equipment, keeping the data entry process simple and |
| the few extra bucks to get a program that is more | | | | by doing what you can to lighten the load on each |
| forgiving of invalid data or, better yet, a program that | | | | database, you'll be doing all that you can to prevent |
| won't allow it to happen. | | | | your database from turning into dust. The extra work, |
| Another common and more serious problem is the | | | | in the long run, will be more than worth it. |