Electronic Signatures Can Reduce Costs, Speed Care Delivery

Our modern Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems’ origins can be traced back to the 1960s. Fifty-five years ago, slightly over 100 clinical information and/or storage systems existed.

I’m sure that, at the time, one of the purported advantages of an electronic record was less reliance on paper documents, because who doesn’t want to reduce the amount of paper around the office? Copying, scanning, collating and filing paper records is time-consuming and prone to error through misfiling documents.

Compare the hospital or medical office of 1965 to 2020, and what’s different? Despite the technological advances over the intervening years, paper remains commonplace, everywhere from the intake forms at the registration desk, to privacy and consent forms in patient rooms, to medical histories stored in large filing systems.

The necessary changes in the healthcare workplace that COVID-19 has brought should serve as the impetus to dramatically reduce the amount of paper required to provide care. Employing electronic signing that can flow to the patient record is good for the environment, good for your practice, and good for your patients.