Columbia Valley Community Health Creates Paperless Processes with Web-Based Forms and Electronic Patient Signatures from Access
Sulphur Springs, Texas (PRWEB) June 18, 2014 -- Columbia Valley Community Health (CVCH) wanted to make patient-focused and administrative processes more efficient and reduce paper costs and have partnered with Access to achieve this. For compliance purposes, the clinic must gather the signatures of the patient, the provider and a witness on an annual consent form.
This is now done electronically using Access’s web-based forms solution. In the event of an audit or legal proceeding, CVCH could quickly retrieve the e-form with all three signatures, including time and date information that verifies when the consent was signed.
“Access’s web-based forms solution enables multiple people to quickly view, complete and sign electronic procedural consents, which are then input directly into our Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system,” said Marc Paskett, Enterprise Content Manager at CVCH. “This process ensures we have the signed paperwork for each patient, which protects them and reduces our liability risk. Plus there’s no paper to deal with.”
CVCH’s charge write-off request is another patient-related process benefiting from the efficiency of paperless forms. When a patient can’t afford a certain procedure, medication or service, the clinic can determine if expenses can be reduced by utilizing funds from its “Helping Hands Fund”. It was often difficult to find the appropriate form and to contact a committee member to advance the process, requiring phone calls, faxes and e-mails, and causing further delay.
Now, a staff member retrieves the form online from any device, completes and signs it, and it’s automatically routed to a committee member for review. With a digital trail, the process is more visible and accountable, and decision making is expedited.
“Implementing web-based charge write-off requests eliminates a paper chase, ensures each request goes through a consistent process, and enables us to help patients more quickly through our Helping Hands Fund,” Paskett said. “It has saved a lot of time and effort.”
CVCH is also using web-based forms in its Human Resource department. Any time a staff member has a change in employment status, such as switching from part time to full time, the e-form is quickly completed, signed and routed to finance so they can make changes in the payroll system.
Employee termination/change/review forms are sent to multiple people in different departments simultaneously. Each person applies a secure digital signature to show they’ve taken the correct action, such as collecting an employee’s computer equipment. And when new employees join the CVCH team, a similar e-forms-driven process ensures they have access to everything they need on their first day.
“We’ve eliminated a lot of manual tasks from employee status change processes with the Access solution,” Paskett said. “We’re also transitioning our 12-page new hire documentation packet – including a W4 and a technology use agreement – to a paperless version. This will make onboarding more efficient for HR and new staff members.”
About Columbia Valley Community Health
Columbia Valley Community Health is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that offers medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, WIC and outreach services to everyone in Chelan and Douglas Counties. Their mission is to provide access to improved health and wellness with compassion and respect for all. Established in 1972, CVCH is now an industry leader and was the first in the Pacific Northwest to achieve the Joint Commission’s Primary Care Medical Home certification. CVCH serves well over 24,000 patients a year between all of its departments and locations in Wenatchee, East Wenatchee and Chelan.
About Access
Hundreds of hospitals worldwide use paperless Access solutions to integrate e-forms, electronic patient signatures and clinical data into EHRs. Access helps improve care, eliminate financial and environmental costs and enhance patient safety and downtime planning initiatives. Learn more at http://www.accessefm.com and discover how you can help Access’s partner The Last Well bring fresh water & the Gospel to Liberia at http://www.thelastwell.org.
Lindsey Eaton, Access, http://www.accessefm.com, +1 (913) 752-9938, [email protected]
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