> While the idea of superimposing HTML input fields over a scanned paper form isn't one I've encountered before or since, that company was turning over $3M per month by the time I joined, so there is clearly mileage in the idea.
You can also do this with PDF files, if you have Acrobat (or at least, it was possible - last time I played with it was several years ago - 2009-ish).
You've probably seen "editable" PDF files - where there are fields you can type stuff into - much like a paper document that you'd put in a typewriter to "fill out".
Well, it's actually possible (in Acrobat) to set up a "form submit" (virtually identical - IIRC, it was an actual HTTPS POST message) that you could point to a web endpoint. Add a button to the bottom of the page to submit the form, and it could also capture and handle errors (like if the service to receive the POST is offline, or has an error, etc).
I forget was Adobe called it - but it worked rather well. I worked for a web app company who was contracted by a doctor's group to redo their website, and part of that was automating the forms. They wanted some way that a patient could download and use their standard PDF forms, to both enter and upload the information, or print it and fill it out manually and return it, if they were more comfortable with that.
They didn't want an standard web form, or anything like you mentioned - because they might change the PDF for manual copies. Instead, we supplied them a template and taught them how to use it (and not to change particular parts - the parts handling submitting/errors and such) - so they could continue to use it. The backend was a PHP/MySQL system, everything was HTTPS, and IIRC we encrypted the data on the backend. I'm not certain that it was completely HIPAA compliant, but it was certainly as compliant as "form filled out with pen and filed in folder).
So yeah - there's clearly a market for this kind of thing...