Case Study: Patients Know Best
EchoSign and Google Docs Support an Successful Online Partnership Between Doctors and Patients in the UK’s National Health Service
Company Overview
Patients Know Best (PKB) is the first company to integrate with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) network to offer a secure service that allows patients and physicians to communicate on medical issues, and work together online. The NHS network is the largest VPN in Europe and is extremely secure due the sensitive medical information that is managed. The PKB data center is hosted inside the NHS VPN and satisfies the N3 stringent security requirements. The patients outside the network control access to their data – they decide where to send their information and who to share it with. In addition, the PKB service fits into the existing process and service level agreements of the NHS clinicians. The result is an extremely successful online partnership between patients and their clinicians – allowing patients to send and receive online messages, send data to their clinicians and access medical notes from their doctors.
Workflow Challenge
PKB is a new, young company that is revolutionizing the patient clinician relationship in the UK. As with anything new, people are skeptical and want to feel some level of comfort before committing to try it. As such, it is key for PKB to be perceived as a trusted, and cutting edge service. “We need to have operational excellence and we need to be able to move fast,” says Dr Mohammed Al-Ubaydli, CEO, Patients Know Best. PKB works with many parties and there are lots of documents and contracts that need to be reviewed and signed off. Documents include NDAs and service level agreements, as well as contracts with hospitals, suppliers, clinicians, auditing firms, and investors. “We have a lot of documents, a lot of moving pieces, and employees spread across 4 different time zones so we need operational solutions that help keep us organized, let us move fast, and are inexpensive.”
EchoSign Solution
In many ways, Google Docs as a cornerstone of the PKB operation. “Google Docs lets us collaborate and work quickly. Before, it was a three month ordeal and a versioning nightmare to draft a contract with our law firm.” In addition, PKB has also added EchoSign’s electronic signature service into the process so that document authoring, creation and document signing is a single, smooth process.
Results
Now with Google Docs, PKB routinely complete documents with multiple versions in days or weeks. “In one week, we documented twenty five (25) information security polices with 4 people working in 4 different cities. It’s unprecedented!” PKB has also integrated Google Docs with Google Sites so that key information is easily and quickly published. EchoSign allows PKB to get their contracts signed and executed – in some cases — in less than 24 hours. “The entire process is seamless. Both Google Docs and EchoSign help us work more efficiently and more effectively. This makes us look more professional and credible to everyone we work with.”
Read more about PKB’s use of Google Docs and EchoSign.The entire process is seamless. Both Google Docs and EchoSign help us work more efficiently and more effectively. This makes us look more professional and credible to everyone we work with.
— Mohammed Al-Ubaydli, CEO, Patients Know Best