The phone is blinking with a supplier on hold. It’s common to check in regarding the process of your patients' DME orders; only this time you found out the order is on hold based on a missing clinician signature. Unfortunately this is a common occurrence. Once again you find yourself pacing the hallway.
This is tedious and a waste of time; waiting with a new DME order in hand for the clinician to become available to sign. Then the documentation will be complete to be sent back to the supplier. Yes, finally they’re available. Through the bustle of seeing patients and trying to chart you’re instructed to get the signature stamp on the clinician’s desk. You run to get the stamp so this order is finally completed. The clinician reviews and stamps the order, you rush to the fax machine to send the signed documents to the supplier for the order to be completed — so the supplies can get delivered to the patient who’s already called twice today to ask about the order. Once the confirmation fax is printed you run back to the phone to advise the documents have gone through and the supplier should receive them shortly.
Great, you’re done with this order. Or so you thought. Within 15 minutes you receive a call from the supplier stating they cannot accept the order because the stamped signature is illegible on the fax, and does not suffice. In your rush to get the fax sent, you indeed did not check if it was perfectly stamped. Did it smudge? Was the stamp low on ink?
A signature stamp is faster, and a widely accepted way for clinicians to sign documents quickly. To avoid conflict with the supplier you repeat the process. Pacing outside the door for the clinician to become available. The patient's efficient care is the goal. The time wasted pacing in the hallway is going to better a patient's life. Once the door opens you start to explain the situation to the clinician, who quickly becomes irritated because the stamp should have sufficed: Instead of moving onto the next patient they use a physical pen and sign the DME order. Now that you’ve sent the requested documentation to the supplier you are finally done.
Traditional methods, such as using stamps or physically signing documents, are not only outdated but also inefficient in today's fast-paced world. The reliance on faxing DME documentation with stamps and manual clinician signatures presents a multitude of challenges. Faxed documents can be lost, signatures can be illegible, and the entire process can lead to delays in patient care. Moreover, with the increasing emphasis on digitization and electronic health records, these archaic methods clash with the goal of seamless data integration.
Enter the modern approach: ePrescribing on Parachute Health. Not only is all of the documentation legible and in one location on the Parachute Platform, order status is visible (such as awaiting clinician signature!), and there are seamlessly easy options for clinician signatures. The most popular methods of securely capturing signatures through the Parachute Platform are through email, text, and on-screen review.
With each of the signing options clinicians are able to review the face to face notes and order details. There are features in the platform which allow for messaging office staff and suppliers to ensure all information regarding the order is up to date.
This transformative solution not only streamlines the signature workflow but also enhances security and accuracy. With faxing, often signatures are missing altogether or illegible, causing delays in the order. With electronic signatures, clinicians can review and sign documents digitally, ensuring that information is correct and signatures are tamper-proof and easily legible. The delays with documents being lost or signatures being misinterpreted are eliminated.