Intake forms allow you to request and record personal and health information from patients before they arrive for their appointment. Getting to know your patient beforehand can be beneficial for treatment, help streamline administration and reduce information errors.
When a patient submits their intake form, their patient profile in your account is automatically updated with their details. It's a handy tool that not only provides you with clearer insight to the patient, but also significantly reduces your admin work.
To set up your patient intake forms, configure your intake form settings, then create the patient intake form template.
What information can you capture in a patient intake form? Anything you need! Here are some common examples:
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Personal details
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Payment details
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Funding or claim details
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Referral details
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File attachments
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Responses to clinical templates or tools
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Responses to custom questionnaires (such as for during or after treatment)
In fact, patient intake form templates are completely customisable to your needs!
When you send an intake form, the patient receives an email with a secure link that contains the form, where they can fill in their details. The link expires after a specified time (14 days by default), so patients must complete the form within that time.
After the patient submits the form, their answers appear as a clinical note in the patient's profile.
Tip
You can assign different intake form templates to fees, and request the appropriate information for any booking. For example, an initial consultation may require different information from subsequent treatment sessions.
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Click Settings > General.
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Under the section Patient Portal, next to Patient intake form, click the
pencil icon. (Note: Make sure you are clicking in the Patient Portal section - not the Clinical Settings section.)
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In the pop-up, configure the following settings:
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Patient intake forms: Select Enabled.
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Require 2FA for patient intake forms: Select to use or not use two-factor authentication.
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Enabled: Patients are emailed an authentication code that they will need to enter to access the form.
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Disabled: Patients can access the form right away.
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Intake form expiry: Specify the amount of time that the intake form link will remain active after sending.
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Intake form link label: This is the text in the email that appears as the clickable link to the intake form wherever you add the dynamic term [Online Form Link]. This setting applies to all your intake forms. (Example label: Click here to complete your intake form)
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Online Booking settings: Configure these settings to automatically send patient intake forms for online bookings. For a complete guide, see this article: Enable automatic patient intake forms for online bookings
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Click Save.
You have enabled the intake form feature. Proceed to the next section to configure your intake form template.
Note
If you enable two-factor authentication (2FA), the 2FA code is sent in a separate email after patients click the link. Make sure to inform your patients to check their inbox for the email containing the 2FA code.
You can create different types of intake forms and select which one to use when sending.
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Click Settings > General.
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Under the section Clinical Settings, next to Patient intake form, click the
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In the top right, click Add Form. (Note: Halaxy provides a default patient intake form that you can click to edit.) This takes you to the template editor screen where you can begin creating your intake form.
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In the Patient Intake Form section:
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Template Name: Enter a name for your intake form type.
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Description: Enter a short description of the purpose of the intake form.
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Status: Select the status of your intake form.
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Active: Available for sending.
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Archived: Unavailable for sending. (For forms that are outdated or no longer in use.)
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In the Intake Template section:
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Sections: Select the patient profile sections you want to include in this intake form.
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Patient details **: Tick to request patient name, date of birth, email address, home address, phone numbers and emergency contacts.
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Introduction source: Tick to request source for how patient was introduced to your practice.
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Card payment details: Tick to request credit or debit card information for payments.
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Require card payment details: Tick to make card payment details mandatory. (This option is only available when Card payment details is ticked.)
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Bank account details: Tick to request patient's bank account details to deposit rebates.
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Patient social history: Tick to include your patient social history form. (This option is only visible if you have enabled the Social History form in your Halaxy settings.)
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Claim and funding information **: Tick to request patient's claim and funding information for selected funders.
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Referral details **: Tick to request patients for their referring practitioners' details for each funder selected in the previous option. (This option is only visible when Claim and funding information is ticked.)
** Sections that have the option to request file uploads (.jpeg / .jpg / .png / .pdf) from patients. Tick the checkbox under the
Add File column to allow patients to upload files for this section.
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Manage Templates
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Add Template: You can add clinical templates that you have created or imported, such as a clinical questionnaire or consent form. If you are adding multiple templates, you can reorder the templates on the form by clicking and dragging the icon on the left. To remove a template from the intake form, simply click the
red X icon beside the template name.
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Attachments: You can attach any other files you wish to send to patients before their appointment - such as a flyer or pamphlet for your practice.
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When you're finished, click Save.
You have successfully set up a patient intake form.
From here, you can send your intake form to patients, or you can create another intake form to assign to specific fees or appointment types.
Tip
You can add a consent form as a template (under Manage Templates) to capture your patient's signature or consent as agreement to treatment or terms and conditions. To do this, you must first set up a consent form template.
For clinical tools, sections can organise questions according to topics or divide longer templates into more manageable parts. For intake forms and surveys, sections appear in their own separate pages.
Image: Example of sections in a clinical tool in use
To add sections and questions, follow the steps below.
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If you don't already have an existing section, click Add Section.
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Section Heading: Enter the name for this section.
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Description (optional): Enter a quick description or completion instructions for the section.
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For Questions / Fields:
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Click Add question.
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In the Question / Title field, type the question or input field you wish to add. (For complete instructions on setting up questions, see: Guide to clinical questions)
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If you have already used this question or field before, it will appear in a dropdown list for you to select.
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If this is a new question, you must scroll to the bottom of the list and click Add a new template question. In the pop-up, select the Answer Type for this question and configure how this question should be answered. Then select Save.
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(Optional) Tick the Mandatory checkbox if you require the patient to answer this question.
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(Optional) Click the
split arrows icon to add a conditional question. This allows you to add a follow-up question based on the answer to this question.
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Add as many sections and questions as you need. Use the
up arrow and
down arrow to change the order of questions.
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To save your additions or changes, click Save.
Tip
You don't have to create everything from scratch - let Halaxy save you time! Use clinical questions to reuse questions from other clinical tools. You can also use data sets to reuse sets of answer options.
If you need to create multiple intake forms that share similar questions, you can save time by duplicating an existing patient intake form, so you don't have to build one from scratch.
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Click Settings > General.
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Under the section Clinical Settings, next to Patient intake form, click the
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In the list, click the intake form you wish to duplicate.
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In the top right, click Copy Intake Form.
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A new copy of the intake form is created. Give it a new Template Name and fill in the details as required.
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Click Save.
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Click Settings > General.
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Under the section Clinical Settings, next to Patient intake form, click the
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In the list, click the intake form you wish to edit.
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Make your changes to this intake form as needed.
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Click Save.
Note
When you edit an existing patient intake form, it will update in all the active form links that have been sent out to patients.
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