Certinal

Certinal is a healthcare consent and eSignature platform for health systems that need patient forms to move through signing and into an electronic health record. Its combination of clinical consent workflows and EHR connections gives it a focused enterprise case, though custom pricing and implementation needs make it less compelling for teams with basic signing requirements.

Overview

Certinal handles patient consent from capture through digital signing, version control, and EHR filing. Patients can complete registration and consent before an appointment through a secure SMS or email link, which can bring paperwork into intake before the visit. Its workflows cover surgical, procedure-specific, clinical trial, general treatment, and data-processing consent, a breadth that suits health organizations managing more than routine acknowledgments.

Direct connections to Epic, Oracle Cerner, MEDITECH, and OpenEMR anchor the healthcare offering. Other systems can connect through HL7 and FHIR APIs, and the integrations page names Salesforce, SharePoint, Workday, SAP, Oracle, and Google. This range gives larger organizations options for fitting consent into existing systems; the actual implementation depends on their requirements.

Key features

Consent and patient intake

The Consent and Compliance Enterprise plan combines clinical and data-processing consent, multi-channel capture, EMR-native integration, and identity verification. The plan description also includes support for more than 80 languages. Those capabilities target health systems collecting consent across multiple hospitals, departments, or regulatory geographies. They are less relevant to a small office that needs only occasional document signatures.

Signing workflows and controls

Certinal eSignature supports sequential, parallel, and hybrid signing, so organizations can set different signing paths for different documents. Audit trails, templates, bulk sending, SMS authentication, and both signing-order options support repeatable workflows. The eSign Enterprise plan adds real-time status, two-factor authentication, and mobile and tablet signing, with a 100 MB file-size limit. That limit is the clearest stated constraint for teams handling large documents.

Integration, security, and implementation

The API Enterprise plan includes REST API access, embedded signing, white-labeling, real-time reporting, and customized workflows. A separate API Sandbox offers an open REST API 3.0 sandbox with enterprise-level functionality, providing a way to work with the API before choosing the enterprise plan. Certinal says healthcare data is encrypted at rest with AES-256 and in transit with TLS 1.2 or higher, and that healthcare customers receive a signed BAA. Its compliance credentials include ISO 27001:2013, SSAE SOC I and SOC II Type 2, and IRAP. eSignature implementation can be completed within a week, subject to implementation requirements.

Pricing

Certinal is paid software with custom pricing and a two-week trial at no additional cost. The trial gives buyers a defined evaluation period, but there is no free plan or published entry price to help smaller teams estimate ongoing cost.

• Consent and Compliance Enterprise: Clinical and data-processing consent, multi-channel capture, EMR-native integration, identity verification, and, in the plan description, support for more than 80 languages. It is aimed at enterprise health systems managing consent across multiple hospitals, departments, and regulatory geographies.
• eSign Enterprise: A 100 MB file limit; its plan description also includes real-time status, templates, bulk sending, two-factor authentication, and mobile and tablet signing. This is the more relevant option for organizations focused on general eSignature workflows rather than the dedicated healthcare consent package.
• eSignature API Sandbox: An open REST API 3.0 sandbox with enterprise-level functionality. It suits evaluation and development work around the API.
• eSignature API Enterprise: REST API access, embedded signing, full white-labeling, real-time reporting, and customized workflows. It is for organizations that need to build signing into their own products or processes.

Each plan uses custom pricing, so buyers must assess cost against their own deployment and implementation requirements. The two-week trial is the only stated no-cost evaluation option.

Platforms

Certinal supports web, iOS, Android, and API access. That gives patients and staff mobile options while allowing organizations to connect signing workflows programmatically.

Who it's for

Certinal is best suited to enterprise health systems that need consent capture tied to EHR workflows across multiple facilities or jurisdictions. It can also suit organizations seeking embedded or white-labeled signing through an API. A small practice or a team choosing primarily on a low, predictable price should look elsewhere: the product is enterprise-oriented and has no published price or free tier.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Healthcare consent spans clinical, surgical, trial, treatment, and data-processing use cases, with intake links that let patients complete forms before appointments.
• Pros: Direct integrations with four named EHRs, plus HL7 and FHIR APIs for other systems, give health organizations several routes to connect consent with records.
• Pros: Signing options, audit trails, templates, bulk sending, and API features cover both repeatable document workflows and custom integrations.
• Cons: Custom pricing and no free plan make cost comparison difficult for small teams and buyers who need a low-cost starting point.
• Cons: Enterprise-oriented consent capabilities and implementation requirements may be more than organizations with straightforward signing needs require.
• Cons: The eSign Enterprise plan caps files at 100 MB, which may constrain workflows involving larger documents.

Alternatives

For a healthcare system prioritizing consent integrated with EHR workflows, Certinal is the more focused fit. Buyers seeking a free starting point for general signing may prefer Dokobit, whose free plan allows three signatures per month and three basic liability document validations per month, with 100 MB of storage. Secured Signing offers a free account capped at three documents per month. Dropbox Sign has a free plan capped at three signature requests per month and an Essentials plan at $15 a month.

OpenSign is another alternative. Signaturely offers a free plan limited to one document or signature request per month. Skribble has a free Starter plan for one user with per-signature fees. Xodo Sign offers a free plan for up to three documents per month. BoldSign has a free Essential plan with 25 envelopes per month, two templates, and one user. These alternatives are worth comparing when a small free tier or a published low-cost route matters more than Certinal's healthcare consent focus.

Explore more options in Electronic Signature Software and E-Signature Software.

Verdict

Choose Certinal if your health system needs patient consent, digital signing, and EHR connectivity in a single enterprise-focused workflow. Its healthcare-specific consent coverage and integration paths are the main reasons to consider it. Look elsewhere if you need a simple signing tool with a free plan or transparent entry pricing.