Ensuring the security of medical paperwork is critical to safeguarding patient information and staying compliant with regional laws. Some of this paperwork requires signatures from various stakeholders, and a smooth workflow can be established by implementing electronic signature software. The software itself must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States, GDPR in the European Union, and PIPEDA in Canada, among other federal regulations.
Popular use cases:
- Patient intake and consent forms
- Patient test results
- Prescription bills from pharmacies and hospitals
- Medical reports and certificates
- Medical equipment purchase order
- Purchase of medical supplies
With the right digital signature solutions, health records can be secured appropriately.
The role of digital signatures in the healthcare industry
1. Save time and money
When it comes to handling paperwork, digital signatures can help save both time and money spent on maintenance, labor, physical storage, and printing. Documents signed digitally can be sent, signed, and saved in minutes, as well as retrieved easily. Plus, there is no need to physically move the document from one location to another.
2. Automating your workflow
The traditional paper-based signing process can involve lots of hands for a single document. For instance, a patient might sign the in-take form in person and pass it on to the healthcare provider. It's then given to the admin team for scanning and storage. This process is repeated in the case of multiple signers. Automating this flow reduces the turnaround time, and the documents can be retrieved upon request with ease.
3. Compliance and security
If you work in the healthcare industry, your digital signature provider must comply with the specific security requirements and standards to ensure your signature is legally compliant. These legal aspects may directly or indirectly impact the way documents are stored, how signatures are collected, or how patient data is shared.
What can Zoho Sign offer to the healthcare industry?
The healthcare industry already relies on technology to provide a better experience to staff and patients. With Zoho Sign, medical professionals can automate their workflows and provide a secure and confidential user experience.
Zoho Sign can be helpful to your hospital's admin team and facilitate patients onboarding. Integrating Zoho Sign with applications like Zoho Forms will help your patients submit medical forms from anywhere. This is helpful for patients who feel nervous in the hospital setting.
Benefits of Zoho Sign:
- Send and sign documents via email, text, and from native mobile apps.
- Offer a contactless patient experience.
- Automate workflows to streamline processes like patient intake, consent form signing, and temp staff contract signing.
- Maintain the integrity of the documents by offering document timestamping.
Some additional highlights of Zoho Sign:
- Assures compliance with HIPAA and the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 in the United States, eIDAS and GDPR in the EU, and other regional laws.
- All documents are encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS/SSL protocol when transporting data over the web.
- Tightly integrates with more than 30 apps.
We have also created a checklist with must-have and good-to-have features to look out for while researching and choosing an e-signature application. If you are already using one of the solutions listed below, the following table can help you compare your current option to Zoho Sign.
Digital signatures can increase overall efficiency in healthcare centers, which in turn can improve the patient intake experience and even help boost overall revenue.
If you are interested in Zoho Sign, you can sign up for a free 14-day Enterprise trial here. Or, if you’re a healthcare provider and want to discuss our software in detail with us, you can email us at support@zohosign.com (if you reside outside the EU) or support@eu.zohosign.com (if you reside in the EU). You may also drop a comment below. Our technical assistance team at Zoho Sign is available around the clock to assist you at no additional cost and we’d love to tell you more.
Thank you for all of this information.