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COVID-19 Innovations from Across the World

Formstack
April 8, 2020
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Min Read

While everyone across the world continues to navigate the uncertainty of COVID-19, Formstack is committed to supporting customers and developing solutions to their pressing challenges. Businesses of all types and sizes are finding themselves in the position of having to move large portions of their operation online. Healthcare organizations are transitioning to virtual care and looking to maximize physician time with patients via pre-visit information gathering. Government and nonprofit organizations are searching for ways to streamline business and worker assistance, as well as donation applications.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been amazed by the creative ways organizations have used digital forms, document generation, workflow automation, and eSignatures to bring their operations online and keep their business moving forward. In this post, we’re highlighting some of our favorite stories to shine a light on the amazing work organizations are doing to adjust to the challenges of COVID-19. The stories are sorted below by these industries:

  • Healthcare
  • Nonprofit
  • Government
  • Small Business
  • Higher Education

Healthcare

Sling Health Digitizes COVID-19 Test Screening
Based in San Francisco, Sling Health modernizes primary care with tech-enabled clinical support teams. In March 2020, Sling Health partnered with Mend Health to support urgent care centers with COVID-19 assessment and testing efforts for Los Angeles County. The companies identified an opportunity to offload administrative work from onsite clinical staff, starting with patient intake questionnaires and patient education pdfs.

The team connected with Formstack because of our HIPAA-compliant digital forms and automated document generation tools, and they quickly developed a digital COVID-19 screening questionnaire that would help identify the most urgent, at-risk patients for testing. With 40 screening questions, the questionnaire uses Formstack Forms’ Conditional Logic to react to the patients’ responses as they complete the form, making it a more personalized and streamlined user experience. The completed submissions are then reviewed by the clinic administrators for next steps.

Sling Health was able to launch the digital screening questionnaire in LA County within 24 hours of ideation, and they have already enrolled 91 patients and signed up more than 270 others for the waiting list.

Guthrie Requests PPE Donations for Emergency Response Fund
Guthrie is a nonprofit, integrated healthcare system serving Northern Pennsylvania and Southern and Central New York. To address the needs of patients and caregivers impacted by COVID-19, Guthrie set up an Emergency Response Fund requesting monetary and personal protective equipment (PPE) donations. The Guthrie team used Formstack Forms to quickly develop a PPE donation form to ensure they can keep front-line teams safe while they treat those who are or may be infected with COVID-19.

Goodland Regional Medical Center Digitally Screens All Visitors, Staff, and Vendors
To protect patients and staff, the Goodland Regional Medical Center needed a way to have all visitors, staff, and vendors self-screen for signs of possible COVID-19 infection before being allowed admission into the facilities. Using Formstack HIPAA forms and its Conditional Logic functionality, the team created a digital screening form that not only enables self-reporting, but also automatically routes completed forms and requests to appropriate people to triage. Launched in less than 24 hours, the digital screening form has seen more than 700 submissions since March 16 and has become essential to the medical center’s operations.

Mercy Health Launches Digital COVID-19 Risk Assessment
Mercy Health is a nonprofit healthcare system serving Grand Rapids, Muskegon, the Lakeshore, and the surrounding Michigan communities. Due to a limited number of COVID-19 testing supplies across the US, only patients who are very ill and meet COVID-19 criteria are currently being tested. To help people assess their risk and receive the most appropriate care recommendations based on their symptoms, Mercy Health developed an online interactive COVID-19 risk assessment using Formstack HIPAA forms.

Prism Eye Institute Launches Electronic Patient Assessments Tool
Needing to ensure the continuity of high quality and safe patient care, Prism Eye Institute partnered with EZ Referral to create an electronic patient assessments tool to use during the pandemic. “The sudden challenges brought on by COVID-19 forced us to think differently about how we deliver patient care,” said Dr. Ike Ahmed, Medical Director, Prism Eye Institute.

Thanks to our partnership with EZ Referral, we were able to quickly deploy an e-assessment tool using Formstack Forms, which allows us to virtually triage and assess patients who are unable to access care. Since we deployed this emergency solution, it has been essential in helping our clinic continue to provide care.

The University of Arkansas Plant Health Clinic Goes Digital
The Arkansas Plant Health Clinic serves Arkansas growers, homeowners, and nurserymen who have plant disease problems or other plant health issues. Due to COVID-19 social distancing precautions, the Arkansas Plant Health Clinic needed a way to accept questions and digital plant photos from people looking to get answers to their pest problems. The clinic used Formstack Forms to do just that.

Nonprofit

Spark.Orange Helps Shopping Angels Serve the Elderly During COVID-19 Pandemic
Formstack partner and Salesforce consultant, Spark.Orange, spotted an opportunity to help “shopping angel” Jayde Powell and her growing army of volunteers providing free grocery delivery to the sick and elderly. To help alleviate the influx of volunteers and those requesting services, and coordinate efforts across the country, Spark.Orange jumped in to help the Shopping Angels build a Formstack Form in minutes.

Pre-Med Student Creates Network of Shopping Angels

United Way of Southeast Louisiana, Entergy Corporation, and the Louisiana Hospitality Foundation Launch Hospitality Cares Pandemic Response Fund
United Way of Southeast Louisiana, Entergy Corporation, and the Louisiana Hospitality Foundation announced the creation of the Hospitality Cares Pandemic Response Fund to provide crisis grants to hospitality workers who are unable to afford basic financial needs during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Louisiana Hospitality Foundation used Formstack Forms to build an online grant application, and received more than 2,000 applications within hours of opening the process. Fund applications are temporarily closed while they review the current submissions for approval and seek additional funding.

Alfond Youth & Community Center in Waterville Launches Meal Programs
The Boys and Girls Club and YMCA of Greater Waterville at the Alfond Youth & Community Center (AYCC) serves more than 5,000 members and 191 communities. With schools closed in central Maine because of COVID-19, the AYCC launched meal programs to ensure children and families are being fed. To support their efforts to provide 1,000 meals per day through four locations (costing $25,000 per week), the AYCC needed an online donation form to raise additional funds. The AYCC team was able to quickly develop an online donation form, and they have since added multiple options for donors to direct funds to various AYCC initiatives.

Government

Chester County Pennsylvania Government Opens States First COVID-19 Antibody Testing Site
In the battle against the coronavirus, Chester County health officials worked nearly a month to open a first-of-its-kind antibody test site to better understand the impact of COVID-19 in high risk populations and essential workers. Needing testing to be organized by appointment, county officials worked with Formstack to quickly develop an online registration system. The online form allows first responders and healthcare workers to schedule an appointment for the drive-thru testing, which then kicks off a workflow once the patient arrives on site. With the lab onsite, patient results are quickly confirmed, auto-populated into a document generated by Formstack Documents, and email to the patient. County health officials expected about 1,000 people to get tested on opening day.

Toledo-Lucas County Health Department Launches COVID-19 Community Survey
To help make the smartest decisions for the health and safety of northwest Ohio residents, the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department looked to get a better understanding of COVID-19 in Lucas, Wood, and Fulton Counties. The team quickly developed a secure online COVID-19 survey using Formstack’s HIPAA forms to survey community residents to help health officials track suspected cases, estimate COVID-19 presence in the community, and follow up with individuals expressing mild-to-moderate symptoms. The survey will also be used to provide testing once enough kits become available.

The City of Miami Gardens Streamlines Music Festival Refunds
Celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2020, Jazz in the Gardens music festival is one of the largest jazz, R&B, and soul festivals in North America. Due to safety concerns because of COVID-19, the City of Miami Gardens made the decision to postpone the 2020 festival held at Hard Rock Stadium, which was expected to bring in more than 50,000 people across the two days. While tickets purchased with a credit card were automatically refunded to the same card, event organizers needed a digital solution to process a refund for tickets purchased with cash. The team quickly created a refund request form with Formstack Forms.

Jazz In the Gardens Refund Form

Philadelphia Department of Commerce (PIDC) Launches COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund.
Administered by the Department of Commerce and Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), the Philadelphia COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund offers grants or zero-interest loans to Philadelphia small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to expected demand and limited available resources, the team needed a way to streamline applications for the three relief programs through a single application that would route requests to the appropriate program based on an applicant’s annual revenue. The team was able to build an online application form using Formstack Forms that allowed small businesses to apply, upload additional documentation, and provide their digital signatures.

The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Launches Keep Workers Healthy and Safe Fund
The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce created the Keep Workers Healthy and Safe Fund to provide immediate cash relief for small businesses to help keep employees healthy and safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. To accept donations on behalf of businesses and individuals, the organization used Formstack Forms to quickly and easily create an online donation form. Their goal is to raise $10 million to support one thousand or more small businesses in the region.

Small Business

Moser Consulting Monitors Employee Health as It Reopens Offices
Prior to shelter-in-place orders being lifted, Moser Consulting prepared for how it was going to safely reopen its Indianapolis and Baltimore office to its more than 220 employees. Moser’s Chief Administrative Officer Paula Moser shares, “as we looked to return to our offices, our top priorities were the health and well-being of our employees, as well as the mitigation of potential service disruptions to our clients. Formstack’s digital COVID-19 self-declaration form allows us to quickly and securely screen employees each day before they enter the workplace to monitor coronavirus cases and deliver any necessary next steps. It’s been a vital part of our operations as we continue to navigate this new normal.”

long form tips

Note: When you’re ready to reopen your business, we’re here to help. Ensure employees and customers feel confident with easy workflows that help your business minimize contact with others, communicate seamlessly with customers, and gather valuable data about your employees.

Cloud Software Association Launches Rapid Response Survey for Members
The Cloud Software Association is a network of cloud software vendors, resellers, distributors, and platforms. Originally scheduled for April 2020, the association’s annual SaaS partnership conference, SaaS Connect, needed to be rescheduled due to COVID-19. The team quickly developed a crisis response plan, which included a rapid response survey using Formstack Forms to survey members and partners to confirm potential reschedule dates and understand the sentiment around future travel plans. The Cloud Software Association used the results to inform its decision to reschedule SaaS Connect to October 5-6, 2020, but it continues to survey members and report results on the impact of COVID-19 on business objectives.

The Arizona Republic Launches Nonprofit Submission Form and Searchable Database
Published in Phoenix and circulated throughout Arizona, The Arizona Republic is the state’s largest newspaper. Looking to help Arizona nonprofits needing to ramp up emergency services and/or find resources when fundraisers are canceled and volunteers are staying home, The Arizona Republic sought to develop a resource to connect donors with nonprofits in need. The team quickly created a nonprofit submission form using Formstack Forms. They then published a searchable database with information about Arizona nonprofits, explaining what services they provide and what their needs are. More than 170 organizations are currently listed.

Julie Ann’s Frozen Custard Launches Online Takeout Ordering
Julie Ann’s is a family owned and operated frozen custard shop serving the McHenry County, Illinois area. A traditional dine-in restaurant, Julie Ann’s was forced to rapidly transition to curbside pickup services amid COVID-19 to keep employees and customers safe. The restaurant quickly developed a digital curbside pickup order form using Formstack Forms, which allows customers to order food, drinks, and gift cards—and enter payment information from the web or mobile—before arriving to pick up their orders.

The Sun Launches “I Love NHS” Campaign
As Britain’s largest newspaper, The Sun launched an “I Love NHS” campaign in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital campaign asks people to show their support for National Health Service staff with a message about how grateful they are for their efforts. The Sun used Formstack Forms for its submission form, and then featured the messages in subsequent articles.

I Heart NHS Submission Form

AEC Partners Launches PPE Supply Portal
AEC Partners is a project management and experiential marketing firm based in Philadelphia. When COVID-19 began to spread, the firm decided to refocus its efforts through its global network of vendor relationships, and expertise in procurement and logistics, to launch the AEC Protective Personal Equipment (PPE) Supply Portal. The team quickly developed an online PPE request form using Formstack Forms which allows the medical community, first responders, and other essential personnel to review and submit requests for available PPE products, and then receive a detailed quote from AEC Partners within 72 hours. The online portal allows AEC to easily share current PPE prices and available quantities, while also providing a user-friendly RFP process.

Higher Education

University of Colorado Denver Launches Online COVID-19 Self-Reporting Tool
The University of Colorado Denver is a public research university in Denver and Aurora, Colorado. As CU Denver monitored the impact of the coronavirus disease, they needed a way to gather pertinent health information essential to the well-being of the campus community. The CU Denver team quickly developed an online COVID-19 self-reporting tool using Formstack HIPAA forms that allows faculty, staff, and students to easily and securely report whether they have been exposed to COVID-19, are under quarantine and/or awaiting test results, have tested positive, or believe they are experiencing coronavirus symptoms.

Emory University School of Medicine Launches “Thank an Emory Health Hero”
Located in Atlanta, the Emory University School of Medicine is the graduate medical school of Emory University and a component of Emory’s Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center. To help show their support and gratitude for the faculty, residents, fellows, and healthcare staff on the front lines of COVID-19, the school launched a “Thank an Emory Health Hero” campaign. Using Formstack Forms, the Emory team developed an online submission form for people to leave a note of thanks or encouragement. These notes are then populated on the Emory website and shared on Department of Medicine social media channels.

Thank You Atlanta Helpers Poster

UC Berkeley Allows Students to Cancel Unneeded Meal Plans Online
In early March 2020, the University of California, Berkeley, switched to online classes for the rest of the semester to help limit the coronavirus risk on campus. While some of its students decided to remain living on-campus, many of its more than 9,000 students decided to move elsewhere. To help streamline students needing to cancel their unneeded meal plans, Cal Dining developed an online refund request form using Formstack Forms. They were then able to quickly reimburse students for their remaining balance.

Brooklyn College Launches Digital COVID-19 Self-Assessment
Brooklyn College is a public college in New York with 17,811 students who come from 143 nations and speak 92 languages. Although the college moved to a remote learning format, it still needed a way to have students and staff self-screen for signs of possible COVID-19 infection to understand the spread and provide guidance about what they should do next. Using Formstack HIPAA forms, Brooklyn College created a COVID-19 case collection form to help students and staff determine whether they should visit a health care provider for further COVID-19 related assessment and testing.

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Formstack is a SaaS company with a mission to help organizations digitize what matters, automate workflows, and fix processes—all without code. A variety of team members come together to compile posts under Formstack's authorship.
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