A new e-Signature solution for the healthcare industry is being launched by pen & tablet display manufacturer Wacom  in tandem with Access, a global provider of electronic forms management, automation and workflow software.

The solution combines a Wacom signature tablet with Access' Intelligent Forms Suite software to integrate electronic handwritten signatures into the healthcare industry's daily workflow.

By bringing e-Signatures to the patient registration and bedside consent processes, Wacom and Access claim their solution reduces the time and cost.

"Collecting traditional, hand-written signatures from patients at registration and bedside requires the use of paper forms, which not only incur high financial, productivity and environmental costs, but delay admission and inhibit information sharing, " said Cody Strate, Sales Director.

"With Wacom and Access's e-Signature solution, healthcare professionals and patients experience a reduction in the time and cost it takes to securely authorise medical appointments, exams and procedures."

Additionally, each one of Wacom's battery-free and cordless signature tablets is able to capture the static and biometric information of individual signatures which Access captures and binds to the document, providing an effective defense against fraud for both patients and healthcare providers. Litigation risk is also reduced with accurate, electronically-stored signatures proving patient consent.

"Through modernising the signature capture process, Wacom and Access' e-Signature solution provides not only a cost-savings to healthcare providers with less of a need to print, scan and store documents, but an increase in the trust and confidence patients feel in their healthcare provider through the streamlined and professional process it offers," says Michael Marcum, Vice President of Vertical Markets for Wacom Technology Services, Corp.

"Improving the process to add unalterable and legally-binding electronic signatures to documents is also a time-savings, which benefits both patients and the healthcare industry."