Parkview Medical Center Implements Access Electronic Patient Signatures Solution

Automated system also simplifies eForms creation, approval, and management

Sulphur Springs, TX (PRWEB) - Access today announced that Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo, Colorado has selected its patient electronic signatures and eForms solution. The facility, which offers general acute healthcare and behavioral health specialty services and has been designated as its region’s first certified Stroke Center, has deployed this application in patient registration and various clinical departments.

One of the main reasons for Parkview selecting Access was the need to replace a previous eSignatures and electronic forms system, which had limited functionality and required a lot of manual effort to manage.

“Before, we had to build each form four times for different areas and keep hard copies of every one, which was very time consuming – not only the creation process itself but also getting approval from different people at each step,” said Jennifer Mihm, Clinical Informatics Forms Specialist at Parkview. “We also had no way of knowing who approved what so we had to check with them, and couldn’t track when a form is due to be revised. Access helped us create a more streamlined forms creation, tracking, and approval process. With our previous vendor, we wouldn’t have even tried to do that because they were so unresponsive and didn’t know the healthcare industry. In contrast, Access’s team has been very helpful and knowledgeable, and has completely changed how we manage our forms.”

“The lag time between having a patient e-sign a form in our previous system and it appearing in MEDITECH was five minutes, which is an unacceptable delay,” added Amy Hough, Director of Clinical Informatics at Parkview. “With the Access system, the patient signs their forms on a Wacom tablet and the document is in MEDITECH within seconds. That might not seem like a big difference, but in terms of patient satisfaction it is. Every second counts because we have to get patients registered in a timely manner so they can get the care they need – which is exactly what the Access system is helping us to do.”

In addition to enhancing patient service, Parkview has found transitioning to the Access system has made life easier for its nursing staff by enabling patients to sign consents and other forms digitally rather than requiring ink-on-paper signatures and subsequent scanning.

“Previously, our nurses’ workstations on wheels – which we call WOWs – were bogged down with stacks of paper forms that they had to carry around,” Mihm said. “Then they needed to get patients to sign these forms. Next, they had to spend time scanning the documents to make sure they went into the medical record. By automating the signature capture process, the Access solution removed the need for all these tasks and carrying all that paper. It seems so simple, but just cleaning up our nurses’ WOWs helped them function better and be more efficient.”

It wasn’t just the clinical forms process that was complicated by Parkview’s previous eForms system inadequacies, but also forms management in the back office. This is another area where Access’s system is creating improvements.

“With the old system, anytime an HR request got denied we’d have to start the whole process over again,” Mihm said. “With Access, we’re able to continue the workflow, and have a much better idea of who has the form currently, which actions have been taken and when, and where each request is in the approval process.”

To ensure Parkview derives maximum value from its eForms investment, Access continues to work closely with the hospital to evaluate current workflows and identify how these can be improved with paperless, automated processing that removes manual steps.

“Bob, our Access consultant, gave us practical suggestions on workflow – not just how a form should look, but also how it should function and what the optimal way to process it is,” Mihm said. “Access is applying what they’ve seen work well at other hospitals to help us change our processes for the better. Bob and the rest of the team are helping us think outside the box and not just settle for the way we’ve always done something when there might be a faster, more efficient way to do it.”

About Access
For more than 15 years, Access has developed electronic forms management solutions that eliminate the unnecessary expense, risk and inefficiency of paper forms. Our 100 percent paperless technology enables organizations in any industry to capture, manage, sign and share forms data without printing or scanning. Learn more at http://www.accessefm.com