Submit Patient Forms

Recently, Dr. Keith Rossein presented a program to the Peekskill Dental Study Club in Briarcliff Manor, NY about the advantages of utilizing online patient forms for their practices. He noted that sending people to your office website slows the process down, because you are dependent upon them waking up one morning and thinking, “Today’s the day I’m going to visited Dr. So & So’s website.” If the patient types in the wrong address, they get frustrated and usually don’t follow up. If they do make it to the site, they download the PDF forms but bring them in with illegible handwriting – and many complete the forms and forget to bring them along. The bottom line – it’s better to receive printed forms before the patient arrives to validate their insurance and red-flag any medical problems. Submit Patient Forms has a process that facilitates the best protocol.

Shown in the photo (L-R) are Dr. Anthony Curinga (past-president), Dr. Michael Rudolph (raffle winner), Dr. Victor Sternberg (past-president) and Dr. Keith Rossein.

According to David Goldman, CNNMoney staff writer, “only about 8% of the nation's 5,000 hospitals and 17% of its 800,000 physicians currently use the kind of common computerized record-keeping systems that Obama envisions for the whole nation.”
Obama’s mission is to computerize the nation’s health care records in 5 years [by 2014]. From ‘‘American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009’’ HR1 -
(3) (a) (ii) Plan to include specific objectives, milestones, and metrics with respect to the following: The utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014.
Individual physicians will be eligible for up to $44,000 in grants by getting in compliance with the appropriate certified EHR programs.
In the medical field, it all will be transactional based - the more Medicare claims a physician submits via an EHR certified application the more incentive dollars they receive. Maximum per is $12,000 in year 1, $8,000 in year 2, $4,000 in year 3, $2,000 in year 4, penalties (in the form of lowered Medicare payments) starting in year 5.
Dentistry is not yet included in a specific mandate. Pressure will be put on dentists’ to become paperless, because insurance companies will stop accepting paper claims. Dental practices that have large numbers of Medicaid patients will most likely be targeted first, since the government controls the purse strings in reimbursements.

Questions are always coming up about how health care practices can be compliant with HIPAA and other legal requirements when utilizing electronic medical records, digitized practice management software and/or online forms.
 
Question: Is a handwritten signature required for HIPAA compliance?
Answer: Currently, no standards exist under HIPAA for electronic signatures. HIPAA rules recommend that electronic transfers of personal health information and access to it are protected by encryption and authentication.
 
Question: What is an electronic signature and is it valid?
Answer: In the Federal  ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES IN GLOBAL AND NATIONAL COMMERCE ACT [ESIGN Act] of June 30, 2000, Sec 106 (5) states: ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE.—The term ‘‘electronic signature’’ means an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.
 
UNIFORM ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ACT (1999) [UETA]
SECTION 7. LEGAL RECOGNITION OF ELECTRONIC RECORDS,
ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES, AND ELECTRONIC CONTRACTS.
(a) A record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.
(b) A contract may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic record was used in its formation.
(c) If a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law.
(d) If a law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law.
 
Question: What if I want to have a patient’s signature on the HIPAA notice and on their other electronic records?
Answer: SPF’s works with a company that will provide electronic pads on which the patient can sign when they are in the office, and the signature is biometrically secured and bound to the document.
 
Dr. Keith Rossein

Recently, Dr. Keith Rossein presented information about online patient forms to the Hambletonian Dental Study Club in Middletown, NY. Those in attendance learned about federal legislation concerning electronic medical and health records, as well as how to be HIPAA compliant with online forms and communication of medical/dental information.

The pros and cons of having patient forms on a practice website were reviewed and compared to the Submit Patient Forms service. How the patient information was transferred into their practice management software was discussed. Some of the electronic records software reportedly use by this group included Softdent, EZ Dental, Dentrix, Orthotrac Classic and Practiceworks. Shown in the photo (L-R) are Dr. Keith Rossein, Dr. Maureen Whipple, Study Club Director Dr. Donald Magidson and Dr. Tom Torres, raffle winner.

Welcome to the new SubmitPatientForms.com Blog. Visit us to learn about new updates in our software and capabilities.

We will also try to keep you informed in legislation and advances in electronic health records. For example, did you know that The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 signed into law by President Obama on February 17th provides $19 billion funding for health information technology such as Electronic Health Records [formerly know as Electronic Medical Records]. Section (3) (a) (ii) States, “Plan to include specific objectives, milestones, and metrics with respect to the following: the utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014.” This act provides for up to $44,000 in grants per qualifying medical office for investment into electronic health records.