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CUSTOMER GROWTH: Magnolia Regional Health Center

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The Magnolia Regional Health Center will leverage Informed Consent and Check Printing

Magnolia Regional Health Center is a 200-bed acute care community hospital that is jointly owned by the City of Corinth and Alcorn County, Mississippi that is fully accredited by The Joint Commission. MRHC has been in existence since 1965 and has grown into the largest employer in Alcorn County. They even state “At Magnolia Regional Health Center, our focus and top priority is providing you with the highest quality care and patient experience.  Our team of medical professionals and staff members are dedicated to you and your health, and we strive daily to reach excellence in the care we provide.”

They are a current customer of Interlace Health. Magnolia Regional has been using eSignature at registration, Go for mobile signatures and Forms on Demand. The Magnolia Regional Health Center will leverage Informed Consent and Check Printing to enhance care processes in their Radiology, Ambulatory Surgery Center and LDRP departments that will complement their MEDITECH Expanse environment.

 

 

Making Patient Signatures Secure, Private, and Compliant

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An estimated 76.5% of healthcare providers still use paper consent forms. This is even though most of these organizations have been using electronic health records (EHRs) for nearly a decade.

Understandably, many organizations are reluctant to change any element of healthcare that’s so crucial to compliance and patient safety, but paper consent forms create their own problems. About 67% of patients are missing consent forms on the day of surgery, for example. This is a major obstacle to efficiency in healthcare and a serious compliance risk.

Fortunately, there is a better way. Electronic informed consent and remote patient intake solutions rely on eSignatures instead of traditional pen and paper. The benefits of eSignature solutions mirror the benefits of other digital healthcare solutions, giving organizations greater control and insight into every step of their operations. Electronic forms are easier to customize, more secure, and more accurate. This means there’s less risk of compliance violations, which benefits both patients and providers.

Here are a few specific ways electronic forms powered by eSignature improve upon their paper counterparts:

1. Better accessibility and security.

Unlike a traditional consent form, which can be modified after the fact and viewed by anyone with access to the document, an electronic consent form is only accessible to those who need to see or fill it out. Administrators can manage access to forms based on their own criteria, granting access only to the people who need it.

For patient intake forms that are being completed remotely, patients are required to create an account using two-factor authentication to validate their identity. In this case, patients need to provide their date of birth and click on a link sent to them either through email or text.

2. Greater flexibility.

Consent forms are rarely one-size-fits-all documents. Each procedure requires different information, and everything needs to be easy for patients to understand. Electronic consent forms make it simple to modify and annotate forms. Forms are updated instantly as older forms are simultaneously disabled, eliminating any chance of confusion or obsolete information playing a role.

Healthcare providers can fully customize each form, choosing between options like free text fields, drop-down lists, and checkboxes. Electronic forms also make it possible to link to additional information, using videos, pictures, or even specific landing pages to help patients better understand their upcoming procedures.

This flexibility helps hospital administrators and patients. Electronic consent forms are easier to access, quicker to complete, and simple to understand.

3. Reduced liability.

Informed consent comes with a host of hoops that need to be jumped through to reduce liability and ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations. Electronic informed consent makes this easier in a number of ways.

For one, fields can be populated automatically with existing information, virtually eliminating the risk of errors from repeatedly filling out forms manually. There are also built-in safeguards to ensure that every patient has everything filled out before the day of surgery.

eSignature also enables every document to be filed and archived instantly. There’s no need to manually scan forms, mitigating the risk that something gets lost or misfiled. And with eSignature solutions, every form is automatically locked in and stamped with the date and time of signing, verifying the authenticity of each document.

Most healthcare organizations have already been relying on EHRs for years. The next step should be to continue that digital journey and adopt electronic informed consent, making the lives of patients and healthcare organizations easier.

Interlace Health can help you take this step, with a comprehensive platform of digital healthcare solutions equipped with eSignature that can integrate seamlessly with your EHR and other existing technologies. To learn more about our eSignature solution, download our whitepaper on the topic here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Over the past five years, Lauren Ziegler has been a member of Interlace Health’s Marketing team, coordinating and executing marketing communication initiatives, such as copywriting and content management, public and media relations, social media, and corporate communications. She has over a decade of experience in working with technology companies. Lauren is passionate about helping the healthcare community understand Interlace’s Health’s value, vision, and commitment to improving experiences for providers, patients, and staff.

It’s Time to Adopt an eSignature Solution

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It has been roughly a decade since it became necessary for healthcare providers to have electronic medical records for their patients. Since then, the industry has continued to use technology to optimize processes.

Relative to other industries, this progress has been somewhat slow — especially when it comes to paperwork. Even today, 41% of care providers still use pens and paper for the registration process — and patients sometimes have to deal with 20 sheets of paper per visit even though digital solutions are available.

This might not sound like a significant problem, but the burden of paper processes adds up in a hurry. Up to a quarter of a nurse’s time is spent dealing with paperwork, and of the nearly 50% of clinicians who reported feeling regularly burned out, the burden of paperwork was cited as the leading cause. The financial cost is also high in terms of materials and fines: In 2019, 12% of HIPAA violations stemmed from issues with paper records.

The Shift to Digital

Healthcare organizations can benefit significantly by making the shift to digital forms. A key part of making this change is adopting eSignature solutions.

Our eSignature platform provides a more secure and efficient way to obtain patient signatures and complements existing technological tools. eSignature solutions make electronic forms management easier by making that final piece of the process — the patient signature — digital.

Ultimately, it moves processes that still use paper, such as patient intake and informed consent, into the modern age.

Electronic Forms and eSignature in Healthcare and Digital Transformation

Digital transformation isn’t about embracing technology for the sake of following the latest trends. It’s about practical, on-the-ground improvements. With that in mind, let’s look at three ways Interlace Health’s digital solutions, featuring eSignature capabilities, improve healthcare operations:

1. Saved time

When Singing River Health System moved away from paper processes and instead used Interlace Health’s Informed Consent solution for electronic forms management, they did so primarily because they were tired of spending so much time fixing mistakes that a digital system could have prevented. This coincided with an overall lack of consistency in a paper approach that made it difficult to standardize processes.

By implementing our solutions, Singing River Health System saved about 500 hours a year because staff members no longer had to prep and scan forms into the electronic system. They no longer had to worry about issues like incomplete forms, illegible handwriting, and misplaced forms, which meant healthcare workers were given back weeks of time that they could now focus on care.

2. Increased savings

Time isn’t the only thing saved. When King’s Daughters Medical Center (KDMC) in Brookhaven, Mississippi, transitioned from paper forms to digital, the organization reduced the number of forms it relied on from 2,500 to 1,000 — a decrease of 60%.

By getting rid of paper, KDMC was also able to drastically reduce money spent on paper, toner, and file storage. This allowed them to avoid the risk of costly fines and delays caused by lost or incomplete paperwork.

Perhaps best of all, clinicians and patients benefitted from a more streamlined and efficient process. This move away from paper helped reduce burnout in healthcare professionals and resulted in more time for meaningful interactions with patients.

3. Better support

When something goes wrong with a process related to a paper form, there isn’t an easy button to fix the problem. With electronic forms management — and the right partner providing it — support is only a click or phone call away.

At Interlace Health, we stick with our customers every step of the way, staying proactive and acting as an extension of your organization’s team. We check in regularly and offer to help with software updates and optimizations. We also provide ongoing educational opportunities for clients, including our annual customer summit and an online portal where healthcare providers can access helpful tutorials and answers to common questions.

Healthcare and digital transformation haven’t always gone hand in hand. It can be difficult and overwhelming to change established processes, but technology has the power to truly make a positive difference in any healthcare organization that is ready for change.

Interlace Health offers a comprehensive platform of digital solutions designed to help you transform your organization for the modern age. We’re already at work helping more than 1,100 organizations improve their operations. Contact us today to learn how we can help you!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Over the past five years, Lauren Ziegler has been a member of Interlace Health’s Marketing team, coordinating and executing marketing communication initiatives, such as copywriting and content management, public and media relations, social media, and corporate communications. She has over a decade of experience in working with technology companies. Lauren is passionate about helping the healthcare community understand Interlace’s Health’s value, vision, and commitment to improving experiences for providers, patients, and staff.

How Digital Healthcare Solutions Increase Staff Safety

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Healthcare organizations have spent the past year adapting and transforming — with technology playing a major role. Providers everywhere have seen the power of digital healthcare solutions and are now implementing them to strengthen operations.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers have worked to limit the spread of the virus and keep both staff members and patients safe. Given how easily the virus can spread through contact with contaminated surfaces, especially in places like hospitals and doctor’s offices, it has been imperative to protect people and minimize exposure.

Technology made that possible. Digital solutions like electronic informed consent and eSignature help healthcare providers limit the risk of staff members and patients coming into contact with contaminated surfaces.

The more healthcare providers implement solutions like this, the safer and better healthcare becomes. These solutions enable providers to gather necessary information, register patients safely, and transmit information electronically, all without the need for direct contact. They also reduce the time patients spend in waiting rooms with staff and, as a result, limit the risk of the virus spreading in those environments.

The Benefits of Informed Consent and eSignature

While many digital solutions can greatly impact healthcare, informed consent and eSignature solutions, specifically, provide the following benefits to both staff and patients. They ensure that electronic forms are:

1. Filled out and archived.

Electronic consent forms and eSignature create quick and seamless workflows. Healthcare providers can easily generate the forms they need by scanning a barcode on a wristband or finding it in the on-demand form library. These forms can then auto-populate and pre-fill certain content, sometimes even via speech-to-text functionality.

When patients sign consent forms using eSignature, their forms are temporarily stored, saved, and ready for additional clinician signatures. Incomplete forms remain easily accessible to ensure they’re reviewed and completed on time before a procedure. Once forms are completed and all signatures are captured, the documents are instantly saved to the EHR.

2. Compliant and complete.

Compliance is a critical part of healthcare, and ensuring that forms are compliant is a critical part of the process. Our Informed Consent and eSignature solutions ensure that forms meet all regulatory requirements — and in a way that’s easy to understand.

Forms using eSignature are always legible (because they require no handwritten information), collect all necessary details, ensure patient education, and meet all CMS guidelines as well as state, local, and organizational requirements. All signatures are also time-stamped, recording the date and time every consent took place.

3. Convenient and reliable.

eSignature capabilities and electronic informed consent have completely changed the way hospitals and health systems collect, store, and use information. Clinicians can collect electronic signatures from anywhere — at a patient’s bedside or from that patient’s home. Even more, the signatures are immediately available to the care team anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

This technology keeps patient signatures and consents from getting lost. It ensures forms are easily accessible and readily available on the day of a procedure. Healthcare organizations that rely on paper forms must contend with lost or misplaced paperwork, incorrectly filed information, and manual entry. With informed consent and eSignature, healthcare organizations know that paperwork will be ready whenever and wherever they need it.

At Interlace Health, we transform workflows with our digital solutions. If you’re ready to implement these solutions in your organization today, click here to learn more.

 

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