How does improving patient experience address healthcare inequality?

Introduction:

Paper trails are customarily prevalent in the healthcare sector. For example, doctors had shelves full of paper paperwork carrying patients’ personal information and health data. Registration forms, patient consent forms, discharge notes, invoices, notices of privacy practices, provider agreements, HIPPA forms, and medical trial applications are just a few documents requiring signatures. These records must be preserved for years to meet governmental regulatory obligations.  

A promising initial step towards decreasing the healthcare inequality gap could be simplifying the burdensome paperwork that patients and doctors must complete. This is also a cost-effective method to contribute to the puzzle’s solution. Here are a few ways to enhance productivity through integrated end-to-end document management to help underprivileged populations today by removing some of their biggest healthcare hurdles.  

Improved efficiency in signature workflows: 

Healthcare businesses routinely enter into agreements, which are infamously paper-intensive and time-consuming to process. Using clinic staff numbers declining as a result of social isolation policies and workload rising owing to the addition of COVID-19 health questionnaires, digitizing workflows with e-signatures can be highly advantageous in a variety of applications, including: 

• Patient enrollment and registration forms, consent forms 
• Doctor’s signature 
• Onboarding for HRs 
• Health insurance claims, provider agreements, SOWs, and NDAs 

Enable affordable healthcare with cost-effective digital signature solutions: 

Reduced friction in the patient and employee experience helps commercial and public health organizations deliver care at an affordable cost. It also gives healthcare professionals the flexibility and efficiency needed to speed up document workflows and generate higher efficiency. According to a McKinsey report, increasing productivity in healthcare delivery will enable us to satisfy the rising demand for services, progress medical advancements, and increase affordability. 

Electronic document signing in healthcare saves time when compared to the cumbersome manual process. The quicker digital procedures help healthcare practitioners with minimum manual input and dependability. Moreover, digitalization reduces costs. Consider the significant labor, physical storage, and printing costs you will save over time after an initial investment in configuring and deploying digital signing technology. Over time, additional advantages, including legal security and environmental effect, result in increased financial returns. 

Simplified document processes assist providers in reallocating resources and revenue or modifying patient pricing models to target lower-income groups because they do away with the time constraints and expenses of handling manual, paper-based healthcare agreements.  

1st Gen technology = increased accessibility: 

Digital document management goes beyond only improving internal procedures; it also plays a crucial role in reducing healthcare disparities by enhancing the patient experience. However, a potential barrier emerges as the healthcare industry adopts digital solutions to interact with patients directly (and reduce the need for in-person interactions): those who lack easy access to mobile smart devices or reliable internet connectivity—such as the already underprivileged, low-income communities—will be left behind. In addition, patients who are elderly or have impairments frequently find it impossible to use online patient portals or telehealth services, which might further exclude them from the advantages of digital healthcare solutions.  

People who may already be technologically impaired should be included in technological advancement. Healthcare practitioners can use digital tools to create a more inclusive and equitable healthcare ecosystem with the right technology partner. All patients can benefit from the flexible technological features of Certinal, like file size restrictions and bulk send or online security features like secure email. 

The importance of keeping patient data shareable and confidential with next-gen digital signature security: 

One of the main benefits of electronic signatures is that they make it simple to transmit data while maintaining confidentiality. However, there are various kinds of electronic signature for healthcare, and they vary in the level of security and legal standing they provide. 

The highest level of protection is provided by certified digital signatures, which provide confidence that the signer is genuine who they claim to be. The digital certificate of the signer is used to validate this. They additionally guard against document manipulation. An error warning will appear if a document changes after adding a signature. You may sign and distribute papers using digital signatures while maintaining the privacy of the information. 

Improve the patient experience using Certinal – A HIPPA compliant electronic signature 

Patients who have the option to read and sign paperwork before their consultation are better prepared to be reviewed by a practitioner right away. In addition, patient experiences are enhanced by the ability to complete paperwork remotely from a desktop or mobile device at any time and at their own pace. Electronic papers can be viewed through various distant channels, a telemedicine platform, a clinic’s mobile app, or a web-based patient portal. This makes workflows like giving consent papers, completing new patient packets, and finishing health questionnaires into an understandable and straightforward procedure. 

From the user’s perspective, a time-consuming documentation procedure can be made more manageable by substituting the handwritten signature with an electronic signature utilizing click-to-sign. Confident that sensitive medical records and personal patient data will be received securely by a well-known and trustworthy source is increased by the option to white-label all communications and patient intake forms sent for e-signing with a hospital or clinic’s own logo and branding. This lessens the chance that patients may fall for phishing scams and upholds the highest confidence in the standard of care and service.  

Conclusion: 

It is possible to start moving in the direction of a healthcare system that promotes improved patient outcomes regardless of social or economic background. Your business can have the capacity to save time, decrease costs, and level the playing field in healthcare by replacing manual processes with a modern patient experience that is centered on removing friction in the agreement processes. 

Book a demo with our product expert to learn more about how your network can offer better healthcare solutions to everyone by utilizing the Certinal digital signatures healthcare.