In the medical industry it is crucial to make sure any patient information traveling through the web is 100% safe and secure. If you’re asking a new patient for his or her social security number and medical history, you need to make sure you have some top shelf encryption.

Why should I use secure online patient forms?

It increases the efficiency of your practice. As time goes by, more people are comfortable filling out information online. Having patients fill out paper forms at your practice eats into precious appointment time. Also, you will have digital copies of your forms for your records. Less paper and less looking for papers.
 
It also establishes credibility with your new patients. If you have a secure online patient form on your website, they immediately see that you’re efficient and up to date with technology. These factors become more important every day.
 

How do you know if a web form is secure?

Secure forms can be setup to display features that turn the browser’s address bar yellow or make a padlock icon appear. This tells the user that their information will be encrypted. With or without these features, the only sure way to tell if a form is secure is to check for the https:// before the web address.

How do I make my online new patient form secure?

Once you have your online new patient form has everything in place, you’ll want to purchase a  Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate. There are different levels of encryption and several companies where you can purchase an SSL certificate like VeriSign. You can also ask your current hosting company if they can setup an SSL certificate as well.
 
The cost of an SSL is the same whether it’s for one page on your website, or your entire site. So why not take advantage of this yearly SSL certificate purchase and make your entire medical website secure. In addition, Google rewards secure sites, so a secured website may help with rankings as well.
 
Where have you purchased your SSL certificate and how has your experience been? Share at the comments below!