CoSign Digital Signatures for Healthcare Organizations

Healthcare organizations have heavily invested in automating operations and business processes. As a result, electronic documents are increasingly used in various phases of the workflow in organizations ranging from hospitals and medical centers to ambulatory facilities. But all too often, when a signature is needed on a document, a hard copy original is still printed and physically routed for signatures. Reintroducing paper into the workflow is expensive, time-consuming, inefficient, and affects business agility. Moreover, converting between electronic and printed documents reduces documentation quality and can result in the loss of document searchability.

Digital signature solutions produce legally enforceable electronic records, closing the gap in going fully paperless by completely eliminating the need to print documents for signing. Digital signatures enable the replacement of slow and expensive paper-based approval processes with fast, low-cost, and fully digital ones.

By enabling a fully automated workflow, CoSign® digital signatures reduce the expenses and time allocations that paper-based signatures require. A paper-based signature is estimated to cost an organization upwards of $5.40 each (including printing, scanning, archiving, routing and replacing lost documents). An average authorized signer signs two documents a workday. With 20 workdays a month, the monthly paper signing costs can surpass $100 per signer.

By reducing the costs and time associated with signature authorizations, digital signatures are essential for healthcare organizations required to maintain compliance with regulations like HIPAA. Additionally, CoSign's ability to expedite collaboration enables off-site staff to quickly authorize documentation. CoSign also enables users to route documents to multiple sites for signing, and send compliant records produced by an EMR/EDM system to external entities. Read more about the digital signature business case for the healthcare industry.

Learn more about the use of digital signatures within various healthcare operations:

• Small hospitals
• Medium to large hospitals
• Ambulatory facilities
• Remote and mobile staff
• Mental healthcare providers
• Healthcare organizations carrying out clinical trials.

CoSign works seamlessly with all common document formats such as Microsoft® Word, Excel®, Outlook®, InfoPath®, Adobe® PDF, AutoCAD®, Bentley® MicroStation, TIFF, and other document types. CoSign is standards-based (based on Public Key Infrastructure – PKI), avoiding vendor lock-in and allowing the document to be verified by anyone, anywhere, anytime without the need for proprietary verification software or third party support.

CoSign is offered in two versions – CoSign Desktop is meant for individual users, while CoSign Central is designed for a multiple-user organization. CoSign Central is based on easy-to-use software that communicates with a centralized and secure digital signature server. It is quick-to-deploy and ideal for mid to large sized organizations, offering seamless integration with content management and workflow systems. For smaller organizations (up to 10 signers), CoSign Desktop is offered as a standalone solution that does not require any hardware component. Learn more about the differences between CoSign Central and CoSign Desktop.

Specifically designed to protect document integrity, the CoSign digital signature solution enables compliance with two of the main provisions in HIPAA (the Privacy and Security Regulations). CoSign also enables compliance with the privacy and security requirements of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

Continue reading about CoSign's legal compliance.

With customers ranging from hospitals and medical centers to ambulatory facilities and organizations carrying out clinical trials, CoSign is the largest and most-widely deployed digital signature solution in the healthcare industry. Some of CoSign's customers include: Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, the Israeli Ministry of Health, the South Carolina Department of Health, and the Mid-Plains Center for Behavioral Healthcare Services, Inc.

Read about CoSign's customers in the healthcare industry.