Due to the pandemic, have you had to eliminate your waiting room? Do you still need to collect paper patient intake forms? Are you forced to spend more time cleaning clipboards and pens? What if there was a way to eliminate most of the paper in your medical practice that would keep staff and patients better protected and save you hours per day?
By Ash Babbitt
As we move into Fall and Winter, most practices are opening their doors back up for in-person care, but COVID-19 is still an issue and cold and flu season is upon us. You’ve taken precautions to eliminate your waiting room or make it as socially distant as possible but what about all those papers that need signed, the clipboard that gets passed around and the pens you are trying to disinfect between handoffs? What if you could get rid of that process immediately – to protect your staff, your patients and yourself?:
1 – Safety
No one wants to touch the pen after someone else and your staff have other priorities besides wiping down the clipboard after every handoff. Also, electronic forms eliminate the risk of human error during inputting information or transcribing.
2 – Digitize Paper Forms
Every paper form in a practice has to be scanned or transcribed back to attach to the patient file or update a record. That’s time that could be better spent elsewhere. With an electronic form, that information can be sent directly to the chart in just a few clicks – nothing needs transcribed. There’s no need to follow up with the patient to ask about something illegible or not completed.
3 – Better Patient Experience
If your staff doesn’t like transcribing forms, your patients feel the same way. Electronic forms are also an appreciated convenience for patients. You can also set up a quick electronic form-based patient survey to send to patients after their visit and gain insight into their thoughts on the practice.
4 – HIPAA-Compliance
Maintain the security and integrity of your patient data by using electronic forms and eliminate the risk of misplacing a paper form with sensitive patient data.
5 – Cost Savings
Not only are you paying for paper and toner with traditional forms, but also consider the additional cost of redundant workflows and resources to transcribe information, scan forms and shred paperThe great thing about electronic forms is they can be completed online from home, table or their phone and done prior to the appointment, from the parking lot or within the waiting room or exam area. Options for forms include COVID screeners, updated insurance information, prescription requests, patient information forms, vaccine clinic registration and more.
Karen Plevyak, RN, with Alternatives Medical Clinic was one of the first to implement Updox Electronic Forms. “Now, we can spend more time face to face with patients and they are spending less time on paperwork. That makes everyone happier,” she reports.
Pam Anderson with Kathy Karamlou, MD, practice says “It really feels like we went from a horse and buggy to a bullet train! I copied the links for our electronic forms to our website so patients can navigate to the new forms themselves. We went from having to chase down the information before the appointment to receiving it back within days or even hours after sending the links.”
It’s time to rethink healthcare, streamline processes and digitize communications. Download our eGuide “Waiting Rooms Will Disappear.” Learn more about Updox Electronic Forms.
"COVID has changed medicine in so many ways. It is refreshing to see an organization whose innovation is helpful. Because of Updox Forms, we can spend more time face to face with patients and they are spending less time on paperwork. That makes everyone happier!"Karen Plevyak, RN, Alternatives Medical Clinic
Updox makes it easy:
