Last Updated on June 18, 2024 by Rakesh Gupta

Big Idea or Enduring Question:

How can I integrate my patient intake processes with Salesforce Health Cloud despite limitations in Salesforce’s native document generation, forms, and e-signature capabilities?

Objectives:

After reading this blog, you will be able to understand how to implement patient intake forms with the power of Salesforce. We will cover:

• The process and benefits of transitioning from manual data entry to automated solutions.
• The disadvantages of the old manual process as compared to the new automated workflow, showcasing the new system’s ease of use and efficiency.
• How to save time, improve data accuracy, instill trust in patients, and ensure better compliance and security.

Business Use case

Trust is the cornerstone of the healthcare industry. Many healthcare providers want to move away from time-consuming, paper-based data collection methods but in so doing, they don’t want to sacrifice personalization and the security of PHI (Personal Health Information). Connecting healthcare processes to Salesforce, one of the most trusted data sources on earth, seems like a no-brainer. The magic combination of automation, data, and trust means healthcare institutions can provide top-tier care while enhancing efficiency. 

In particular, patient intake forms are a core process that can benefit from digitization and automation. Before healthcare providers can carry out treatment, intake forms need to be filled out. These forms contain personal details of the patient and essential medical history. Intake forms also contain signed consent and should be compliant with relevant healthcare regulations such as HIPAA. 

But what are the challenges that healthcare providers face when integrating intake forms with Salesforce? Let’s dive in.

Challenges of Intake Forms in Salesforce Health Cloud

While Salesforce is a powerful platform and arguably the most reliable single source of truth (SSO) around, it’s essential to note that Salesforce currently lacks robust native capabilities for document generation, form building, and eSignature functionalities. This makes seamlessly connecting your CRM to patient intake forms quite challenging. For example, here’s a description of how one medical institution was struggling with the process: 

1. Patient data was being collected manually. The patient had to physically fill in the intake form. This information was collected via a “PDF of Doom”.
   
2. This manual process meant the patients had to read through the HIPAA Regulation Right and liability waiver before hand-signing it.
   
3. Perhaps the most painful part of the process is that the medical institution’s staff had to manually enter patient information from this PDF into Salesforce.
   
4. Errors were often made and staff sometimes found themselves running short on time and unable to enter all data into Salesforce. This meant they would often cut short the data-entry process and simply upload the form to their Salesforce.
   
5. Of course, data entry errors meant AI could not function optimally or be leveraged by the medical institution.
   
6. Completed and signed intake forms were residing in Salesforce without being properly linked and given that they were stored as PDFs, reports could not be generated.
   
7. PHI was compromised and the entire process was not HIPAA compliant, risking the institution’s reputation as a trusted healthcare provider.

   

This institution reached a point where it needed a new and fully automated process to improve the experience of patients and ease the administrative burden of staff. When deciding how to overcome these limitations, they had two choices:

1. Invest in Custom Development OR
2. Implement a Third-Party AppExchange Tool

Route 1: Custom Development for Patient Intake Forms

The medical institution considered custom development to create a highly tailored solution to automate intake forms aligned with their specific workflows and data collection requirements. This would ensure every field, question, and feature catered to their unique patient intake process.

However, the institution decided against this option for the following reasons:

1. Development Timeline: Building custom solutions takes considerable time, potentially delaying implementation and creating a backlog in patient intake processes.
2. Resource Investment: Custom development requires significant resources. This healthcare institution would have needed to hire external developers as they lacked in-house expertise, adding to the overall cost.
3. Ongoing Maintenance Needs: Maintaining custom solutions requires ongoing investment, as updates, bug fixes, and modifications may be needed over time. The medical institution was not ready to take this on.

Route 2: Titan’s Automated Patient Intake Forms for Health Cloud

Given that the medical institution wanted to achieve automation and Salesforce integration while using minimal time and resources, they decided to shop around on the AppExchange. Leveraging third-party tools available on Salesforce’s biggest marketplace offered one path for achieving their desired patient intake process. While there are many quality tools to choose from, this institution decided on Titan, one of the fastest-growing ISVs on the AppExchange. Titan differentiated itself by being able to provide no-code tools that synced to Salesforce in real time. Here’s what the institution achieved with Titan:

1. Streamlined Data Entry: Digital forms to collect various types of data, including personal information, health questionnaires, and electronic signatures. This simplifies the process for users and ensures data is captured accurately. All components from the original PDF are available in this new form.
   
2. Buttons and validations for data types make entering information in this digital form a breeze! All fields were created using only drag-and-drop tools.
   
3. Conditional logic means patients only need to fill out fields and information relevant to their needs.
4. Real-time Salesforce Integration: this ensures that the data entered into the digital forms is immediately and automatically pushed into Salesforce, updating records in real-time and eliminating the need for manual data entry. The medical staff are now finally free to focus on the important work of caring for patients.
5. This Salesforce integration is so powerful that all patient information is sent to your CRM directly after the patient clicks the “next” button and before they reach the HIPAA Regulation page of their form.
   
6. The whole document is fully HIPAA compliant. Adhering to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), this automated form ensures that patient data is managed with security and confidentiality, using Salesforce’s cutting-edge security technology to safeguard this sensitive information further.
7. The patient can easily sign electronically and this signature is stored in Salesforce.
8. Device Compatibility: These digital forms are compatible across various devices, including mobiles, tablets, and laptops. This flexibility allows patients to complete forms conveniently, whether at home or on the go.
9. Tracking and Audit Logs: This automated patient intake system has comprehensive tracking and audit logs. These logs record when documents are sent, viewed, and completed. All this information is stored in Salesforce where accurate and intuitive reports can be generated.

By using Titan, this medical institution was able to automate patient intake forms at scale while leveraging e-signing and document generation for Salesforce off a single platform. They save on development costs and skip ongoing maintenance associated with development while still achieving a fully customized solution their patients can trust.

Learn More About Titan! 

The Titan platform is a suite of zero code products for Salesforce that help you speed up time to market, slash expenses, and create your dream projects in minutes instead of days and weeks. If you liked learning about Titan Sign in this article, check out some of its strongest features:

• Initiate signing on any object and anywhere in Salesforce
• Work with any dynamic template or document 
• Dynamic number of signers
• Identify your signers in real time
• Sign fully secured documents
• Fully track the signing process in Salesforce
• Integrate the post-signing processes with your Salesforce
• Leverage Conditional Logic
• Save signed documents in Salesforce

Formative Assessment:

As modern healthcare advances, the integration of key processes with Salesforce will play a critical role in helping institutions free up time and improve the lives of patients. So, could your doctor’s office benefit from a digital intake system fully connected to Salesforce? Share your thoughts in the comments below!