The healthcare industry is in the middle of a major digital transformation. From telehealth to electronic health records, everything is moving online to accommodate a newer, more modern way of life. According to a report from the AMA, the percentage of physicians using remote monitoring devices skyrocketed from 12% in 2016 to 30% in 2022. That’s an almost 3x increase in just one year alone!
However, there’s one area that’s often overlooked: the mailroom.
It may be surprising, but traditional physical mailrooms are still the norm for many healthcare providers. Unfortunately, they bring along a host of issues, from compliance risks to serious delays in care delivery. That’s where digital mailrooms like VirtualPostMail (VPM) come in.
In this post, we’ll explore why healthcare organizations are making the switch and how digital mailrooms are helping solve common challenges when it comes to compliance, security, and efficiency.
The mailroom problem in healthcare
Here’s what makes the continued use of traditional mail so problematic:
- Manual and outdated processes: Staff members spend valuable time sorting, scanning, and distributing mail by hand. It’s inefficient and prone to human error.
- Security and compliance risks: Misplaced documents and exposed patient information can trigger HIPAA violations and compromise patient trust. In just the last 24 months alone, 22% of reported healthcare breaches involved paper.
- Lack of visibility and delayed operations: Mail can get stuck on someone’s desk or buried in a filing cabinet. That means delays in billing, authorizations, and even patient care.
- Scattered locations and hybrid teams: Many healthcare providers operate across multiple clinics, offices, and even remote teams. Paper mail doesn’t travel well, and definitely doesn’t keep up with today’s distributed workforces.
Is there a better alternative? Yes, a contemporary solution was born: the digital mailroom.
What is a digital mailroom?
A digital mailroom handles physical mail by scanning incoming paper documents and turning them into secure digital files, which are then delivered to your team electronically.
How does it work, exactly?
- Your mail is sent to a secure processing center.
- It’s then opened, scanned, and categorized.
- The digitized mail is uploaded to a secure platform, where you can read and manage it anytime, from anywhere.
Digital mailrooms can handle just about any type of document you receive, including referrals, prescriptions, EOBs, lab results, provider contracts, and more. Best of all, it creates a centralized, searchable history of all your mail, so nothing gets lost or overlooked.
How a digital mailroom can help you cut costs, reduce risks, and modernize operations
Making the switch to a digital mailroom isn't just about going paperless—it’s about transforming how your organization communicates, secures sensitive information, and delivers care.
Here's a closer look at how a digital mailroom can have a direct improvement on healthcare operations:
Enhanced security and compliance
Let’s face it, protecting patient data is non-negotiable. But with paper mail, it’s all too easy for something to go missing or land in the wrong hands.
A digital mailroom ensures documents are encrypted, access-controlled, and stored in a compliant environment, every step of the way.
How this helps:
- All mail is encrypted in transit and at rest
- Reduces risk of HIPAA violations
- Tracks every document for audit-readiness
- Speeds up compliance responses and investigations
With the average cost of a data breach coming in at $3.86 million, every effort counts. Reducing the risk of errors helps you build a stronger foundation for secure data, compliant operations.
Improved operational efficiency
Time matters in healthcare, and paper mail slows everything down. From authorizations to billing cycles, delays can ripple across the entire organization.
Digital mailrooms streamline workflows and remove the constraints of manual mail handling, organization, and communication.
How this helps:
- Instantly routes documents to the right person or department
- Enables same-day turnaround for critical documents
- Supports auto-routing and searchable document tagging
- Reduces busywork so your team can focus on patients
According to a study conducted by market research firm IDC, companies lose 20% to 30% in revenue every year due to inefficiencies. With a digital mailroom, you get faster processes, fewer handoffs, and better outcomes.
Remote accessibility for distributed teams
Hybrid and remote practices are here to stay. A 2022 study conducted by McKinsey revealed that at least 45% of healthcare practitioners work remotely at least some of the time. However, paper mail is notoriously hard to manage when your workforce isn’t in the same physical space.
A digital mailroom makes your incoming mail accessible from anywhere. Whether your billing team is remote or your provider is working from home, everyone can access what they need, when they need it.
How this helps:
- Cloud access means critical mail is always just a click away
- Supports collaboration across locations or teams
- Keeps workflows moving during office closures or emergencies
- Ideal for hybrid and telehealth-based care models
It’s a smarter system built for how modern healthcare teams actually work.
Significant cost savings
Managing physical mail is expensive. There’s the cost of labor, storage space, shredding services, and even delayed or lost mail, which can lead to revenue loss and lack of mail data security.
Digital mailrooms reduce these expenses by cutting out paper-based overhead and reduction of errors.
How this helps:
- Eliminates the need for physical storage and shredding services
- Reduces manual sorting, scanning, and forwarding
- Fewer lost documents = fewer denied claims
- Frees up staff for higher-priority work and reduces human errors of processing
While actual numbers may vary, according to the Association for Intelligent Information Management, organizations can save up to 60% on operational costs by implementing a digital mailroom. Imagine what you could reinvest that revenue in!
Improved patient service and experience
When patients are waiting on answers, delays can quickly erode trust. A digital mailroom ensures that vital communications move quickly and don’t get lost in the shuffle of the day-to-day.
How this helps:
- Faster access to test results, referrals, and insurance documents
- Better coordination across care teams
- Fewer errors or dropped communications
- Consistent, accurate records for every patient
When your internal systems run smoothly, your patients feel it too. A faster mail process means faster care, better billing accuracy, and stronger communication.
How VPM can transform your healthcare organization
VPM isn’t just your basic mail scanning service. It’s a full-scale, all-in-one solution designed specifically to help healthcare providers modernize how they handle sensitive documents. Whether you’re a small practice or a growing network, VPM delivers the tools, security, and flexibility you need.
Built with compliance at the core
Healthcare is a highly regulated industry, and VPM is built to meet those standards from the ground up.
What that means for you:
- HIPAA-compliant systems to protect PHI
- SOC 2 Type II certified facilities verified by independent audits
- End-to-end encryption for total data protection
You won’t have to worry about compliance—VPM has it baked into every part of the process.
Fully owned and operated mail centers
Unlike many digital mailbox providers that rely on third-party partners, VPM owns and operates all of its mail processing facilities meaning that your data is processed on-site.
Why this matters:
- Greater control over security and handling of online and physical mail
- Faster mail processing and delivery of information to you
- Your mail stays within VPM’s secure ecosystem without extra hands for reduction of delays and lost mail
VPM manages everything in-house, so you’ll receive mail faster and more secure.
Designed for healthcare workflows
Healthcare organizations deal with a unique set of documents and operational needs. VPM is built specifically to support those.
Healthcare-friendly features include:
- Smart routing and tagging to streamline internal delivery
- Full document search so nothing gets lost
- Real-time audit trails for compliance and tracking
Your staff gets what they need, when they need it, without chasing paper across departments.
Rethinking the mailroom
The traditional mailroom was never built for the speed and complexity of modern healthcare. Between compliance pressure, distributed teams, and rising patient expectations, sticking with outdated systems can slow you down and put your organization at risk.
A digital mailroom offers a smarter path forward: one that’s secure, scalable, and built for the way healthcare actually works today. Ready to make the leap for your organization? Explore VPM’s HIPAA compliant mailbox services and learn how you can bring your mail process up to speed.
