How Automating Discharge Acknowledgement Forms Can Benefit U.S. Hospitals 

Over 34 million discharges occur from US hospitals each year (Statista). Each of those discharges requires a discharge acknowledgement form that a patient or their representative sign when they leave a hospital. These forms serve various purposes, such as informing patients of their rights, responsibilities, and follow-up care instructions, as well as obtaining consent for the release of medical records and billing information. Discharge acknowledgement forms are also important for hospitals, as they can help prevent disputes, lawsuits, and audits, as well as improve patient satisfaction and outcomes. 

However, creating and managing discharge acknowledgement forms can be a tedious and time-consuming task for hospital staff. Nurses often have to manually fill out the forms with patient information, print them, obtain signatures, scan them, and store them securely. This process can be prone to errors, delays, and inefficiencies, which can negatively affect the quality of care and the revenue cycle of the hospital. 

This spring I had the chance to visit one of our customers, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and got to see how they are using our software to simplify and streamline this process: automating discharge acknowledgement forms. By providing their nurses iPads loaded with our software, they have eliminated a series of menial tasks for that valuable staff. In addition to saving staff time and eliminating the costs associated with paper, the solution provides additional benefits: 

• Enhancing accuracy and compliance: Automating discharge acknowledgement forms can eliminate human errors and inconsistencies that may occur when filling out or processing the forms. This can ensure that the forms are accurate, complete, and compliant with the relevant laws and regulations. It can also make it easier to track and audit the forms in case of any disputes or inquiries. 

• Improving patient experience and engagement: Automating discharge acknowledgement forms can provide patients with a more convenient and user-friendly way of signing the forms. They can use tablets provided by the hospital to sign the forms electronically without having to deal with paper copies, clipboards and pens. They can also receive copies of the forms via email or text message for their records. This can improve patient satisfaction and loyalty, as well as encourage them to follow their discharge instructions and care plans. 

Nicklaus Children’s is not alone, as many of our over 1,100 hospital locations have deployed or are in the process of automating discharge acknowledgement forms. This workflow is just one of the many ways Interlace Health is helping our healthcare customers put #peopleoverpaperwork. 

About the Author:

Art Nicholas, Chief Commercial Officer at Interlace Health, has over 20 years of experience in launching and expanding technologies in the healthcare field. He was a pioneer in getting speech recognition used by both doctors and nurses in inpatient and outpatient settings. In every role, his teams have successfully implemented automated workflows which benefit patients, providers and the healthcare ecosystem. A strong believer in the healthcare IT community, he has been an active member of CHIME, HIMSS, and MUSE, sitting on a number of their committees. He is committed to improving the quality of patient care and lowering the cost of care delivery through well-designed and well-supported technology workflow solutions.

Learn how Nicklaus Children’s redeployed 4,914 hours of nurse time!