Even the healthcare sector is not an exception to it. Even this sector is in more need of a business management system or techniques that can help it manage medical records, improve administrative efficiency, stay legally compliant, offer the best healthcare services at the right time and with the least possible cost.
The Healthcare sector is always under the pressure of being available to the patients (old or new) in time of emergency. That is easier said than done.
However, the second is trying it's best to meet these expectations. As a result, many health care businesses, healthcare centres or professionals are integrating the latest technologies or business management systems in the traditional workflow with a hope that adapting to the right technologies will help their healthcare services to be easily accessible for patients, and the staff will be able to manage the workload in the given time.
Across the world, many countries have passed suitable regulations allowing the use of technological solutions in the healthcare sector such as software to manage digital medical records like eSignature Healthcare Solutions.
Encouragement from the government authorities, benefits of using technologically advanced solutions, and more are encouraging many hospital businesses to adapt to the eSignature Solution for Healthcare Professionals.
Regulations and Compliance
A healthcare business must choose a reliable Electronic Signature software that is in compliance with the related regulations and laws.
Here are a few laws that a solution must comply with, apart from the laws of the land:
FDA's 21 CFR Part 11:- This makes digital records as legal as paper records. It is applicable while managing electronic data and signatures in every FDA governed company.
HIPAA:- That is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It asks the software to follow certain data standardisation techniques when it comes to electronic data.
This is done to boost efficiency and safeguard the integrity and confidentiality of patients' data.
Indian IT Act of 2000
If you are a healthcare business operating from India. This law applies to you.
Apart from the above-mentioned acts, there are many other acts that regulate the use of electronic data and signature.
Laws are governing the European Union. Plus every country which has approved the use of eSignature Solution for Government Agencies and others have its own regulations which a business must follow in order to stay compliant.
Considering the benefits this software offers, many healthcare businesses across the world have adapted to Digital Signature for Government Agencies.
Not just the healthcare business but almost every sector in the economy is leveraging the use of digital signature solutions for the sake of ease and simplicity it brings to the documentation process.
Here are a few benefits of using electronic signature software.
Safety
In the traditional signing process, parties used to gather at one place and sign face to face to ensure that the right person has signed the document.
But even after taking this precaution, there was a scope for forgery and other fraudulent activities. to save the data, document and the parties from the risk of forgery and other risks, using electronic signature software is recommended.
As every process is conducted electronically in the secured IT environment, there is no scope for any party or others to temper with the data and the signatures. Features like timestamp, use of cryptography, etc helps in connecting the signature to the signer which ensures all the parties that the right person has signed the document.
Plus, the document goes to only those people who are added to the recipient list. Once the signatures are done, the documents are stored safely on the cloud with limited accessibility. In a digital signature, complete transparency is maintained with help of features like tracking of the document right from the initial stage.
This feature allows all the concerned parties to find out every activity that is taking place on the document. In case any security breach takes place the document (even if signed) is considered invalid immediately.
Flexibility
electronic signature software, being an electronic solution, allows parties to sign from anywhere, at any time using any device.
The software also lets the signers decide the way they want to make the signature and give their approval to the content of the document. Singers can either use the screen of the computing device to draw a signature (just like handwritten signatures) using a stylus or a finger; signers can tick off the 'I Agree' box, etc.
This flexibility also adds to the positive customer experience. In the case of the healthcare sector safety and flexibility, both play a crucial role.
Legal Backing:
Many regulations and laws are passed across the world stating that any document cannot be considered invalid just because it is electronically signed.
eSignature Healthcare Solutions have backing in the court of law provided the software complies with the laws of the land.
Read the blog- Guidelines for e-Signature & e-Delivery of Documents
Audit Trail
This enables users to find out who has signed the document at what time and which data and if he/she was the right person to sign the document.
Easy Management of Documents.
The healthcare sector has to deal with thousands of paper documents every day. Electronic documents make it easier for the staff to manage and store medical records and other insurance and healthcare documents in the right place.
And all this data can be made available to the patients and doctors in real-time.
However, even after so many benefits and safety these solutions offer, there are a few things that are stopping healthcare businesses from adapting to eSignature Healthcare Solutions.
Let us find out more about it.
Security Risks From Hacking Attempts
Digital medical records management software is always on the list of hackers. Before the passage of the HIPAA act, many medical records have fallen prey to such hacking attempts.
However, HIPAA has made it mandatory for eSignature Healthcare Solutions to take all the necessary security measures that can protect the electronic data from cybercrime activities. However, in order to avoid the paid version of electronic signature software, many of the known healthcare centres or professionals use the free version of the software and risk their and their patients' confidential medical and personal data.
This risk has stopped a few healthcare businesses from adapting to electronic signature software.
Data Bottlenecks Due To Poor Interface Interface.
Digital health records or eSignature Solution for Healthcare Professionals are meant to streamline your business workflow.
However, if the solution you are using is poorly developed with the least attention to how it will look and operate in the real world, it will lead to a compromised user experience. Your staff will find it hard to operate these solutions (Which are actually supposed to be easy to use). Interfaces of a poor digital solution can be full of clutter and the staff might have to spend more time using the software, delaying the result and other work.
The Healthcare sector is worrying that it might end up using something which would add to the clutter rather than eliminating it.
Hence, it is important for a healthcare business or a medical practitioner to install software that is easy to use, interactive and intuitive.
Hospitals are recommended to conduct a demo before deploying it in the system. The right eSignature Solution for Healthcare Professionals would be faster, safer, easier to use and simple to understand.
And it will save time.
Hospitals worry that they might have to train the staff in order to switch to the paperless workflow.
Transitioning from a paper-based workflow to a paperless or electronic document management system may require your staff to learn a few things and it might take a few minutes.
The staff might take a week or so to master the use of new technology. You, as a hospital, are worrying that this is time-consuming and unnecessary. However, you are wrong. By spending a few minutes of their working hours, the staff is going to learn how to use a technology that will (in a later stage) save hours of their duties.
What you can do is choose a few techno-savvy staff members from the team, conduct a demo.in front of them, see how comfortable they are with the technology and then train the rest of the staff.
You can also install the solution in a few departments first, and then can expand the use. It is recommended to go with a solution that is way to use, has a user-friendly interface, easy to navigate and helps the staff to manage the documents.
In case of any query, the software must have a help section to guide the staff through. Usually, every eSignature Solution for Healthcare Professionals is user friendly and does not demand any training.
Poor typing skills of the staff or lack of comfort while using an electronic solution can be a hurdle.
Some hospitals might face the problem that a few of the staff members are totally oblivious of how computers or digital devices work.
Their typing speed can be slow too. In such scenarios, you can go for a solution that offers readymade templates to the users. Medical signature solutions can offer some patient-specific situations that can help the staff in adding, modifying, deleting the data.
Most of the time, these solutions are very easy to understand and they come with a huge amount of tutorial data.
Secure & Reliable eSignature Tools For Your Business - Try It Now
Big hospitals cannot make any decision easily, they have to conduct meetings of the board members and take the required consent to deploy any new technology.
This process is usually lengthy and stops medical organisations from adapting to new things.
