HIPAA compliant online forms

Telemedicine
1

Need a service that will allow parents to sign forms online in case they can’t print and sign our forms at home.

It is easy to find these services, like JotForm, but has anybody looked into which is the best? I really want the least expensive one that gets the job done and is easy to use…

Thanks

2

My experience and research suggests that most of the time when you need a patient signature…you really don’t. Anyone here ever heard of a digital signature being used to confirm or deny something? I haven’t.

3

Many of the TM providers are relying on the Terms of Service- which is trick, at best.

I know some of the TM companies are offering some sort of digital capture of the signature, but to Chip’s point, how valid is it? One example is Doxy.me but it was only in Beta as of last week…

The problem with using some online form is that it makes it very klunky to correlate the completion of the forms with the visit, etc…it’s almost like you have to have Docusign involved- which I am not advocating…

4

I would be happy to skip it…

It is for the informed consent form for Telemed visits.

I have heard that doxy.me said that it is okay to waive this now because of the latest rules, but have not confirmed.

5

On this particular matter, I think doxy is right. A few days before the CMS announcement, I believe doxy had removed their functionality relating to tracking consent because “they couldn’t keep up” (I have a screen shot, I believe). When the CMS announcement came along, they got to change their message. So, right now - I don’t think that anyone needs to collect consent for telemedicine. RIGHT NOW.

There are a couple issues with that conclusion:

  • Generally speaking, more specific state law overrides looser federal law. This has always been true. What I haven’t fully confirmed is if your state requires consent are THEY recognizing the change in restrictions?
  • Let’s say all is great right now, you don’t need consent. But that rule goes back into place…is it easier now to get consent as people sign up OR will it be easier later after they’ve had a few visits and now you have 3000 people you need to get consent from? I dunno. But maybe doing it now is better.

Back to my original point. Texas is a state that requires consent from patients. Do you have the language anywhere which specifically states what’s need to record consent? Does it require a signature, digital or otherwise, or can you just record it in the your chart (like…VIS)? We all presume that these things need some kind of signature when, very often, they do not.

I very much welcome disagreement!

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6

So far, we have been getting people to print and sign the telemedicine consent, emailing it in, and if they couldn’t, have been telling them to sign it next time they are in the office - documenting a verbal consent.

Will likely keep doing that instead of setting up an online service for signatures.

Thanks

7

What if you obtain verbal permission to send the consent to the patient via email (or if possible via patient portal) and have them email back that they agree? I worry about families with no access to printers.

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