Everything was taking too long. That often leads to risky workarounds.

And TrueCare knew it.

The Southern California-based healthcare provider’s approval processes were outdated, to say the least. Their paper-based approval process required multiple rounds of printing documents, wet signatures, scanning and reuploading to their system. Invoice approvals required multiple levels of sign-offs.

The inefficiencies weren’t just inconvenient. They were happening dozens of times a day in finance, accounting and billing, adding unnecessary lead time to critical decisions.

“Everything was stamp, sign, scan, email, print and repeat with approvals,” says Ben Whitehill, TrueCare Vice President of Information Technology. “It was just so wasteful.”

It was also a massive risk under HIPAA.

Whitehill joined TrueCare in 2021 and quickly sought to reverse course. He partnered with Progress™ ShareFile™ software, which streamlines document and client-facing workflows. With the ShareFile platform, TrueCare was able to reduce certain approval times by 80%, helping deliver fast value to staff and patients.

With hundreds of administrative staff and, at times, more than 500 signatures sent per month, the organization could free up ample resources to improve outcomes.

Whitehill and TrueCare recognized something that many other skilled nursing facilities are realizing.

“In HIPAA, secure file sharing is not enough,” says Urvashi Sharma, Product Marketing Specialist at Progress ShareFile. Many organizations still use insecure channels, such as email attachments, to share sensitive patient data.

“That is the problem that most of these organizations are dealing with: where’s the audit trail? Who is sharing that information with which party?” Sharma says. “When they exchange these sensitive documents with parties outside their organization, they don’t have control over the data. There needs to be a solution in the market where all of this multi-party coordination happens in one place.”

TrueCare is among those that have seen the benefits of this approach. With ShareFile capabilities, TrueCare now has security, compliance support and an audit trail.

And a simple experience.

Inside the Next Stage of HIPAA Compliance: Four Wins

In addition to reducing certain approval times by 80%, TrueCare has significantly reduced its printing costs through its use of ShareFile software.

But perhaps the biggest improvement is that it gained tools that support HIPAA-compliant document sharing and external collaboration. ShareFile software helped TrueCare establish consistent, secure processes for external document exchange and internal document storage.

“After you share files, there is a back-and-forth with third parties that requires a lot of due diligence,” Sharma says. “The business process has multiple steps: you review the documents, you edit them, you approve them, you sign off and you send them back. And after the approval happens, you store and audit and archive those files.”

This entire process exposes providers to potential security risks. TrueCare has overcome these challenges in four ways.

1. The right system lets providers organize and manage client work from start to finish —with files, signatures, requests and tasks consolidated and visible.

Healthcare workflows rarely involve a single document exchanged once. Physician credentialing requires dozens of documents collected over weeks. Patient intake involves forms, ID verification, benefit eligibility and signed consents. Insurance carrier reporting is a recurring, scheduled exchange.

ShareFile project and client portal features bring all of these moving parts into a single, trackable workspace — with individual document requests assigned to specific parties, due dates that trigger automated reminders, status tracking from submission through approval and a shared view that every internal stakeholder can access simultaneously.

Nothing falls through the cracks because there is no longer a gap between the request and the record.

2. Simple, secure file sharing that supports HIPAA compliance.

Healthcare organizations handle some of the most sensitive information in any industry — patient records, clinical data, benefit enrollment forms, credentialing documents and insurance claims. Most general-purpose tools are simply not built to meet HIPAA requirements.

3. When file sharing is easy and secure, healthcare teams can focus on patient experience.

The administrative burden of managing external document exchange pulls healthcare staff away from the work that actually matters. ShareFile software removes that friction: external partners and patients receive a simple, encrypted link which they can authenticate with a one-time code. Then they upload or download what they need.

That’s it.

4. Built-in security and compliance controls are the way of the future.

ShareFile software is not a security add-on bolted onto a file sharing tool — security is structural. Every external share requires authentication. Every access event is logged. Together, these capabilities help reduce administrative burden while improving visibility and control.

“For healthcare organizations, the gap between ‘We need to share this securely’ and ‘We have a system that handles that end-to-end’ is where risk lives,” Sharma says. “Most teams are filling that gap with a technology patchwork that creates compliance exposure, administrative burden and a poor experience for every party involved. ShareFile closes that gap with a single platform that handles the entire external document lifecycle: requesting, collecting, reviewing, approving, signing and archiving in an environment that supports HIPAA compliance, all with a complete audit trail, and all with an experience simple enough that a retiree enrolling for benefits or a referring physician uploading a patient record can complete the process without any technical assistance.”

TrueCare’s journey with ShareFile software is a testament to how the right technology can drive efficiency, reduce costs and enhance workflows, without overcomplicating the user experience.

This Views article is sponsored by Progress ShareFile. To see why SNFs need more than secure file sharing for HIPAA-regulated workflows, and to learn how visibility, approvals and audit trails help reduce risk, visit sharefile.com/industry/healthcare.