Wacom and Access Electronic Patient e-Signature Solution Reduces Paper Costs, Improves Patient Satisfaction at Greater Baltimore Medical Center

VANCOUVER, Wash., Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- To reduce their environmental footprint, lower costs, and increase patient satisfaction, the Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) recently deployed 20 Wacom STU-500 signature tablets with Access Intelligent Forms Suite (IFS) and Access e-Signature to help them generate e-forms at patient registration. Forms now come with patient demographics pre-filled and barcodes that facilitate auto-indexing in the facility's Hyland Software OnBase^® ECM system. The solution also allows GBMC to capture and apply electronic signatures, making the registration process fast and easy for patients. This has allowed the hospital to achieve the majority of its goals very quickly.

"Wacom and Access' e-Signature solution provides not only a cost-savings to healthcare providers with less of a need to print, scan and store documents, but an increase in the trust and confidence patients feel in their healthcare provider through the streamlined and professional process it offers," says Michael Marcum, Vice President of Vertical Markets for Wacom Technology Services, Corp. "Improving the process to add legally-binding electronic signatures to documents containing individually identifiable health information is also a time savings, which benefits both patients and the healthcare industry."

"The combination of Wacom's LCD STU-500 signature tablets and Access's e-forms and electronic patient signature solutions have created a fast, paperless registration process," explains Cherie Patterson, Patient Access Applications Trainer at GBMC. "It has further reduced our paper costs and several patients have commented on how much faster their registration experience is now."

Instead of printing patient forms twice – one for the patient and one to go into their chart – GBMC now asks if patients would like a copy. Most say "no," helping GBMC to save money and reduce its environmental footprint even more than the savings they've already achieved by switching to e-forms on demand.

"With our Wacom and Access solution we've greatly reduced our paper output and waste," Patterson said. "Ninety-seven percent of patients decline a copy of their forms packet, so everybody wins."

Another benefit of Wacom and Access's offering is that it does not require third-party software to be installed and managed at each signature tablet like many e-signature set-ups. With a server-based approach, GBMC can easily administer the solution. And as biometrics, time and date stamps and other e-signature data are immediately accessible from a secure electronic repository onsite, GBMC can easily provide this during an e-Discovery proceeding or audit, as a safeguard for the hospital. Signatures are also tamper-proof, which protects the integrity of every patient's data.

Selecting top quality software will continue to be a must for hospitals, but the relationships they build with vendors will be equally as important. Wacom and Access have both worked closely with GBMC to determine its e-forms and electronic patient signature needs, and, according to Patterson, continue to provide exemplary support.

"Wacom and Access have proven products and great customer service," she said. "We're confident that they will continue to help us further our EHR project and paperless initiative."

About Greater Baltimore Medical Center
Located in Towson, Maryland, Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) has served the Baltimore metro area since 1965. This full-service acute and sub-acute care facility has 281 beds and last year had 30,631 surgical procedures (inpatient and outpatient), 57,285 ER visits, 4,232 births, and 22,297 admissions (includes births).

About Wacom
Founded in 1983, Wacom's vision to bring people and technology closer together through natural interface technologies has made it the world's leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays and digital interface solutions. The advanced technology of Wacom's intuitive input devices provide business, education and healthcare users with the ability to explore digital content creation in a comfortable, natural way. For additional information, visit: http://www.wacom.com.

About Access
Access is the world's leading electronic forms (e-forms) management, automation and workflow software provider. Their solutions transform any paper-intensive forms process into a paperless, collaborative one. Hundreds of hospitals worldwide are using Access solutions to improve patient care and safety, cut costs and enhance electronic health records (EHR), patient safety and downtime planning initiatives. Learn more at http://www.accessefm.com.

For more information, please contact:

Brooke Dale
Liaison PR
503.796.9822
[email protected]

SOURCE Wacom