Human Services - Telephonic Signature

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

As of January 1, 2014, federal regulations related to The Affordable Care Act (ACA) were enacted requiring state agencies to accept telephonically recorded signatures on applications for healthcare assistance. A telephonic signature is a type of electronic signature that uses an individual’s recorded spoken signature in place of an actual written signature, and is considered legally enforceable under certain conditions. The use of a telephonic signature, as part of the application process eliminates the need to mail documents in order to gather a customer’s ink signature. Placer County Health and Human Services was the first among California Counties to implement a completely automated telephonic signature process. In an effort to streamline the delivery of services, and to meet the provisions mandated in the ACA, Placer County Human Services developed a completely automated telephonic signature process for Advance Premium Tax Credit and Medi-Cal applicants who applied over the phone. Telephonic Signature capability was implemented and fully functional on February 3, 2014. Given the high demand for healthcare coverage, the telephonic signature capability enabled Placer County to streamline healthcare applications, and to successfully enroll more than 13,000 of its residents into healthcare coverage since its implementation in February of 2014.