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Directive To Physician's Adn Family Surrogates Form

Use a Directive To Physician's Adn Family Surrogates template to make your document workflow more streamlined.

What this physician directive does

The Directive To Physician's Adn Family Surrogates Form records a person’s treatment instructions and identifies family surrogates who may communicate or help guide decisions when the person cannot do so. Its exact fields, witnesses, notarization rules, and legal effect depend on the state-approved form and applicable healthcare law. In signNow, a sender uploads the directive, reviews automatically detected fields, assigns physician, patient, surrogate, and witness roles, sends invitations, and stores the signed PDF with an audit trail. Healthcare organizations should verify state requirements before relying on electronic execution.

Who uses this physician directive

Healthcare providers

Physicians and healthcare organizations use the directive to document treatment preferences, identify an authorized family surrogate, and route signatures through a controlled workflow. When protected health information is involved, the organization should apply HIPAA safeguards and confirm state-specific witness or notarization rules.

Patients and surrogates

Patients and designated family surrogates review the directive’s instructions, provide signatures where required, and retain a copy. signNow can deliver the completed record and audit trail, but the clinical organization remains responsible for legal validity and care-team access.

Healthcare teams that use this directive

The directive serves individual clinicians, outpatient practices, and larger health systems that coordinate physician and family-surrogate signatures.

  • Solo physicians can prepare one directive template, identify the patient and family surrogate, and send signature requests without exchanging paper copies during a consultation.
  • Outpatient clinics can route physician, patient, surrogate, and witness fields through a controlled workflow while retaining the signed directive with its audit trail.
  • Enterprise health systems can standardize directive templates, permissions, and retention policies across departments while connecting signNow with approved systems such as Salesforce, NetSuite, or Box.

These tasks are executed by both individual contributors and centralized administrators depending on organizational policy and required controls.

How this physician directive moves through signNow

The signNow workflow turns the directive PDF into a controlled signing sequence while preserving the completed record and evidence of each signing action.

  • Upload directive: Upload the directive PDF and let signNow detect fillable fields.
  • Review fields: Review physician, patient, surrogate, witness, and date fields.
  • Send roles: Send signing roles in the required clinical order.
  • Archive record: Store the completed directive and audit trail securely.
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Quick steps for this physician directive

Prepare the exact directive required by the relevant state and healthcare organization, then use signNow to coordinate authorized signatures and preserve the completed record.

  • Upload:

    Upload the directive PDF.
  • Check fields:

    Review detected physician and surrogate fields.
  • Assign roles:

    Assign signers and required witnesses.
  • Send:

    Send the signing invitation.
  • Archive:

    Store the completed directive and audit trail.

Choose the right signing method for this directive

  1. Use the web app when staff upload the directive, review detected fields, and send it to the physician or designated family surrogate by email.
  2. Use the mobile app when a physician or surrogate must review and sign the directive from an iOS or Android device away from the office.
  3. Use kiosk mode when staff and a patient or surrogate complete the directive together on a controlled device during an in-person healthcare visit.
  4. Use a shareable signing link when a clinic needs to distribute the same directive through a secure portal, website, or direct message.

Recommended setup for this healthcare directive

Configure the directive workflow around signer identity, protected health information, audit evidence, and the applicable state-law retention policy.

SettingRecommendation
Authentication methodEmail link with SMS OTP
Signature typeTyped or drawn electronic signature
Audit trailCapture timestamps, IP address, and actions
Document retentionSix years when HIPAA applies
EncryptionTLS 1.2 or 1.3 and AES-256

Platform requirements for signing this directive

Complete the Directive To Physician's Adn Family Surrogates Form in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge on Windows or macOS. signNow mobile apps support iOS and Android, while secure sessions use TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3.

  • Browsers Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge
  • Operating systems Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android
  • Secure connection TLS 1.2 or 1.3 required

Healthcare organizations should use managed Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android devices when the directive contains protected health information. Administrators can review API access, SSO provisioning, and certificate or long-term validation requirements against their compliance program before deployment.

Healthcare examples for this directive

Healthcare teams use controlled signing workflows when physicians, patients, and family surrogates must review the same directive from different locations.

Fertility healthcare

Fertility Centers of Illinois needed a responsive way to collect patient-facing healthcare signatures while maintaining an auditable electronic process.

  • Healthcare signatures across patient workflows

John Butler, founder of Fertility Centers of Illinois, said the organization found the signNow team responsive and praised its API. That experience illustrates how a healthcare organization can connect signing workflows to operational systems, while still reviewing state directive rules, HIPAA obligations, and clinical record policies separately.

Healthcare practice

A regional healthcare practice can use the directive as a controlled template when physicians and family surrogates sign from different locations.

  • Remote physician and surrogate review

The practice can upload the directive once, map physician, patient, surrogate, witness, and date fields, then route each role in sequence. The completed directive and audit trail provide a centralized record, but the practice must confirm that its state-approved form and signing formalities remain satisfied.

Best practices for completing this directive

Accuracy, signer identity, state-law review, and controlled retention matter because this directive may guide treatment decisions and disclose sensitive health information.

Confirm state signing requirements

Confirm the directive’s state-specific witness, notarization, and surrogate requirements before configuring fields. Do not assume an electronic signature replaces a required in-person act. Ask the healthcare organization’s legal or compliance team to review the exact state form and signing instructions.

Assign every directive field

Assign each signature, initial, date, and witness field to the correct person before sending. Use role-based routing so the physician, patient, surrogate, and witnesses do not accidentally sign another participant’s section or change the directive’s treatment instructions.

Protect health information

Use the HIPAA-compliant signNow configuration and execute the required Business Associate Agreement before storing protected health information. Limit recipients, use controlled access, and confirm that every person receiving the completed directive is authorized by policy.

Archive the completed record

Export the completed directive and audit trail together, then retain them according to the applicable clinical and state policy. HIPAA-covered records require six years from creation or the last effective date under 45 CFR 164.530(j).

Rules that can limit electronic signing

Invalid formalities

State-law mismatch

Reduced enforceability

Missing witness

Privacy exposure

Unauthorized disclosure

ESIGN exception

Excluded document

Integrations for directive records

Named signNow integrations can connect directive workflows with clinical operations, approved storage, and enterprise systems without changing the form’s state-law requirements.

Salesforce
Procore
Zapier
Microsoft Teams
Hub spot
Box
Microsoft

Troubleshooting directive signing and storage

Resolve field, identity, access, and retention questions before the physician, patient, or family surrogate signs the directive.

Upload the original Directive To Physician's Adn Family Surrogates Form as a readable PDF, then inspect signNow’s automatically detected fields. If a signature or date field is missing, add it manually before sending. The Business plan includes templates and audit trails for repeat workflows.

The directive can be signed electronically when applicable state law and the care organization’s policy permit it. ESIGN and UETA generally recognize electronic records and signatures, but state healthcare directives may impose additional witness, notarization, or form requirements.

Use signNow’s HIPAA-compliant configuration only with the required Business Associate Agreement. Restrict recipients, protect access to PHI, and verify the organization’s clinical and state-law requirements before sending the completed directive.

If a surrogate cannot open the email, verify the address, resend the invitation, or create a shareable signing link. Business Premium includes quick invite links; administrators should distribute links only through an approved secure channel.

For stronger attribution, enable two-factor authentication or SMS OTP when available in the organization’s plan and policy. Advanced signer authentication is available with Enterprise features; the selected method should match the directive’s risk level.

The Business plan is listed at $8 per user per month with annual billing and includes 100 signature invites per user annually. Business Premium is $15 and adds bulk send, while Enterprise is $30 and adds advanced signer authentication.

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