Hospitals today face an impossible equation: do more with less, while keeping pace with evolving CMS mandates, Joint Commission (TJC) standards and interoperability expectations. Yet many health systems still rely on paper-based workflows—manual, error-prone processes that slow down care, create compliance risks and drain staff time across departments. 

The hidden costs of paper 

Paper forms don’t just affect registration staff. They ripple through the entire care continuum—clinicians waiting on consents, HIM teams chasing missing signatures and compliance officers managing outdated documentation. Incomplete or misplaced forms delay surgeries, disrupt patient throughput and even impact reimbursement accuracy. 

Beyond operational inefficiencies, manual processes introduce compliance exposure. Hospitals are required to maintain real-time, accurate records of patient consent, authorizations and regulatory documentation. When paper forms go missing or aren’t scanned promptly, that compliance chain breaks, which can have serious consequences when surveyors arrive. 

The compliance crunch 

CMS and Joint Commission audits can occur at any time, often without notice. That means hospitals must always be audit-ready—not scrambling to track down documentation or correct deficiencies after the fact. For organizations relying on paper, this is a constant uphill battle. 

Manual workflows make it difficult to guarantee that every patient form is properly completed, signed and filed.

And if deficiencies are found, the real cost compounds. Hospitals must then spend additional time and resources on corrective action—root-cause analyses, staff retraining and resubmission of documentation—all after already investing countless hours in audit preparation. The cycle diverts attention away from patient care and increases stress across departments. 

Digitized forms management eliminates that uncertainty. Electronic forms and e-signatures provide automatic documentation routing, timestamped audit trails and complete visibility into the status of every consent or compliance form. Compliance leaders gain the ability to demonstrate readiness instantly, rather than reactively. 

The interoperability gap 

Paper forms also create barriers to interoperability and data exchange. Documentation that lives outside the EHR can’t be shared, tracked or validated easily. This creates blind spots in the patient record—potentially affecting continuity of care, quality reporting and reimbursement. 

By digitizing forms management, hospitals ensure that every patient document becomes part of a connected, searchable record. Integration with core systems like MEDITECH or Oracle Health allows staff to pre-populate patient information, route completed forms back to the EHR and make them accessible enterprise-wide. 

A real-world example 

Norman Regional Health System, a multi-campus provider in Oklahoma, once faced these same challenges. Paper-heavy workflows led to lost documents, delayed procedures and increased storage costs. By implementing Access eForms’ electronic forms management solution, the health system eliminated manual handoffs and ensured that every signed form was automatically indexed to the correct patient record in MEDITECH. The result: faster, safer care and improved staff efficiency across departments. 

Doing more with less—securely 

For operational leaders, digitizing forms isn’t simply an IT upgrade—it’s a strategic imperative for compliance, efficiency and patient safety. Paper-based workflows expose hospitals to risk, slow down care delivery and make it harder to demonstrate readiness when regulators come calling.  

Solutions like Access eForms let hospitals: 

• Eliminate paper and manual rework 
• Maintain real-time visibility into forms completion and compliance 
• Improve staff productivity and patient satisfaction 
• Reduce the risk of survey deficiencies and costly corrective actions 

In an environment where hospitals are expected to do more with fewer resources, electronic forms management gives operational teams control, visibility and confidence.