A Textbook Solution The documentation process in health care facilities relies on technology more than ever. Health care providers and insurers expect forms automation and electronic archiving to cut costs, improve the quality of patient records and keep them compliant with standards. When forms automation first entered the scene, distributors worried that it would replace their business. Over time, it became apparent that paper and other printed products still have a place in health care facilities. One format doesn't dominate the other. Instead, successful distributors integrate electronic and print-based products to provide the best solution for any given facility. In broad terms, forms automation is the process by which traditional paper-based forms are converted to an electronic format. The goal of forms automation solutions is to streamline document flow through all areas of the hospital, but the level to which it exists varies from facility to facility. In essentially paperless offices, the forms would be viewed exclusively online. A more common scenario, however, takes place at North Texas Hospital, Denton, Texas, where templates are stored electronically, but staff members print the forms with variable patient information from any printer. Chris Rowton, account executive at Exalt Printing, Flower Mound, Texas, and Lisa Marta, its owner, sold forms automation software to Trophy Club, Texas-based Cirrus Health, a developer and manager of health care facilities, including North Texas Hospital. In a textbook example of how distributorships can penetrate the health care market as document management consultants, Rowton convinced Cirrus Health to adopt forms automation. "Initially, they looked to us simply to print all their internal forms on a regular basis," Rowton says. "We began talking to them about forms automation, and they immediately recognized the efficiencies and cost savings that it would provide." Exalt Printing and software developer FormFast, St. Louis, designed nearly 40 forms for the North Texas Hospital, such as face sheets, consent forms and privacy forms. FormFast converted the forms to an electronic format and installed software that allows the hospital to merge patient data and print the form from a laser printer. "They don't have to put a patient's ID label on every form that comes through," Rowton says. "They can preprint a form and populate it with all the patient demographic information, and that pack follows the patient during his stay at the hospital. They have the ability to print one-off documents on demand if they need it in admissions or anywhere in the hospital." FormFast software also allows the hospital to modify forms templates when changes are necessary to comply with new standards. It seems counterintuitive for a print distributor to sell his client electronic forms, but Rowton's cost-effective solution helped build a relationship with Cirrus Health. "I knew that if we were able to make a great impression on the customer by providing them new technology that would simplify the way they do business in the printing environment, that would give us the opportunity to pick up additional business," he says. In fact, Exalt Printing was asked to provide supplies and printed products unaffected by forms automation, including wrist bands, patient chart files, medic alert labels, ID labels and stock paper. Cirrus Health also indicated that it would look to Exalt Printing to help initiate forms automation at more of its facilities. "I really feel that forms automation is taking over in the health care arena," Rowton says. "If you're not addressing forms automation in health care accounts right now, someone else will be soon. You can bring this new technology to your accounts now and separate yourself from being just another forms printer or be left out in the cold." Have a solution? Click here to be featured as an E-Weekly Solution of the Week