Recommended Reading

We recommend reading the Patient Forms Introduction article to learn about the value and purpose of the Patient Forms feature.

 

Newest Features

1. Send Patient Forms from the Patient Chart for patients without appointments
2. Reviewing and exporting responses a Staff Level User

 

Contents

• General Workflow
  • How to create a new Patient Form
    • How to use the Patient Signature question
    • How to use the Insurance Card Images questions
  • How to attach Patient Forms to specific Appointments Types to be sent with appointments
  • How to send Patient Forms to Patients
    • Send Patient Forms via appointments
    • Send Patient Forms from the Patient Chart for patients without appointments
      • Following up on notifications about incomplete Patient Forms
  • How to review and export responses to your chart
    • How to manage insurance card images from submitted Patient Forms
• Locating completed Patient Forms in the chart
  • Reports
  • Chronological Record
• Advanced Tips
  • Creating forms
  • Adding a Report Category option for Patient Signature Forms
  • Adding forms to appointment types
  • Sending forms to patients
  • Reviewing and exporting responses
• How patients receive and fill out forms
  •       Filling out eSignature forms as a Patient
  • Uploading insurance card images as a Patient
• Using Patient Forms for Virtual Intake/Telehealth  
  • Tips for Forms
  • Tips for Booking Site

 

 

General Workflow

How to create a new Patient Form (Watch our video walkthrough here)

1. Open to your Settings page in Elation and click on “Patient Forms”.
   • Important Note: The ability to edit and create Patient Forms may be limited by the Admin Only toggle 
2. Click on “Create new form" and select from the dropdown the type of form you'd like to set-up. You can either start from a blank form or customize one of our existing templates. 

3. Give the form an internal name in the upper lefthand corner (this is only seen by your practice). Give the form an external name and description (this is seen by your patients).
   
   

4. If you select the "Blank" form, use the "Add question" button to add questions to your form.
   • User Tips:
     • Always try to use the pre-built questions because all of them allow you to export the patient's answers directly into designated areas of the Clinical Profile in the patient's chart
     • Some pre-built questions allow you to collect structured information or convert answers into structured data such as the different questionnaires and medications questions.
     • The Insurance Card Images questions allow you to collect images of the patient's insurance card to be stored in their Demographics. Learn more about this feature here.
     • The Patient Signature question allows you to request an electronic signature from a patient. Learn more about this feature here.
5. If you select an existing template, you will find it pre-populated with questions that can be customized.

• Click “Delete” to remove any question that you don’t need.
• Click “Add question" -> "Other” to add custom questions to the form.

6. Edit any question prompts or helper text by clicking in the corresponding text fields and typing your changes.
7. If you added the "Other" question topic to your form, you can customize where in the Clinical Profile you'd like to export the patient's response to.
   • Click the "Export to" dropdown next to the Question Topic name and select the section.

       8. Finally, click “Save form” and the back arrow to complete.

  

 

How to use the Patient Signature question 

Your practice can add the “Patient Signature” question to new and existing patient forms in your settings. Please follow the steps below for instructions on how to create a patient form that collects a patient's electronic signature:

1. Open to your Settings page in Elation and click on “Patient Forms”
2. Click “Create New Form” or edit an existing form
3. Click "Add question" and select "Patient Signature"
   • User Tip: Only one “Patient Signature” question can be added per Patient Form. If you need to collect multiple signatures, you can create a new form for each specific signature needed. 
4. Add the information that you would like the patient to sign off on in the Question Text field
5. Complete form as needed and click “Save form” when finished 

 

 

How to use the Insurance Card Images questions

1. Go to "Settings" -> "Patient Forms"
2. Click “Create New Form” or edit an existing form
3. Click "Add question" to find the Insurance Card Images - Primary and Insurance Card Images - Secondary questions and click to add.
   • Default Question Text is included with the questions to help guide patients on how to update good quality images. Feel free to adjust this text as needed.
   • Each question can only be added once.

3. Click "Save Changes" to save the new questions to your Patient Form

 

How to attach Patient Forms to specific Appointment Types to be sent with appointments (Watch our video walkthrough here)

For each appointment type, attach the forms that you wish to send to your patients to the appointment type.

1. On your Settings page, click “Calendar and Booking” >> "Appointments"
2. Find the appointment type you are adding forms to. Click “Edit”.
3. Under the "Linked Forms" section, click the dropdown menu and select the form you want to add. You can add multiple forms.
4. Under "Sending Forms", define when you would like the forms to be automatically delivered to your patient.
   1. "immediately upon booking" - forms be delivered when you create an appointment
   2. "days before appointment"- forms delivered ahead of the appointment based on the number of days specified. 
5. Click "Save"

 

 

 

How to send Patient Forms to Patients

Send Patient Forms via appointments

1. On your Practice Home page, click “+ Appointment” to create an appointment for the patient in the calendar.
2. Choose the Appointment Type that has Patient Forms attached, fill out the details of the appointment & click "Save". 
3. Once the appointment is saved, the Patient Forms will be delivered to the patient based on the timing preferences that you defined under the "Appointment Type" settings page. 
   • User Tip: You will see a forms status indicator on appointments that have forms. A "clock" indicates there are forms that are incomplete; a "green check mark" indicates all forms are completed.

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4. You can click into “Add/Edit Details” to view specifically which forms are completed versus outstanding.
   

     
 

Send Patient Forms from the Patient Chart for patients without appointments

If you want to send Patient Forms independent of a patient appointment, you can use the Forms feature in the gray navigation bar at the top of the patient’s chart. To send Patient Forms from the patient’s chart:

1. Open the patient’s chart
2. Click the “Forms” button in the gray navigation bar
3. Verify the email you are sending the forms to, if applicable. Click “Update” to update the patient’s email if needed.
   • Important Note: Patients must have an email in their patient demographics in order for you to send them Patient Forms. 
4. Under Select Forms, click the “+Add Forms” to select which forms you want to send to the patient
5. Under Notify Me if Incomplete, specify when you want to be notified if the patient does not complete the Patient Forms you sent within a specific timeframe or by a specific date.
   • The notification will appear in the Requiring Actions section of the patient chart and Practice Home for the sender once it reaches the due date.
   • The notification will appear in the Outstanding Items section of the patient chart for all other users (besides the sender). 
   • Patients will still have access to their forms after the notification date.
6. Click the “Send” button to immediately send the selected Patient Forms to the patient
7. You will see the Patient Forms request in the Chronological Record until either all sent Patient Forms are completed or the Patient Forms request is removed. You can also take the following actions on the request:
   • "Copy URL" - You can copy the URL of the Patient Forms and share it with the patient via alternative means such as Patient Passport.
   • "Resend" - Send the Patient Forms to the patient again. You will be able to select new notifications preferences when resending Patient Forms.
   • "Remove Request" - Delete the Patient Forms request.
     • Important Note: Deleting Patient Forms will make the Patient Forms inactive for the patient. Delete Patient Forms with caution.

 

 

Following up on notifications about incomplete Patient Forms

After sending Patient Forms from the Patient Chart and reaching the due date, the sender will receive a notification in their "Reminders" inbox at the Practice Home and in the patient's chart. All other users will see the notification in the Outstanding Items section of the patient’s chart. Users can take one of the following actions on these reminder notifications:

• "Copy URL" - You can copy the URL of the Patient Forms and share it with the patient via alternative means such as Patient Passport.
• "Resend" - Send the Patient Forms to the patient again. You will be able to select new notifications preferences when resending Patient Forms.
• "Remove Request" - Delete the Patient Forms request.
  • Important Note: Deleting Patient Forms will make the Patient Forms inactive for the patient. Delete Patient Forms with caution.

 

How to review and export responses to your chart (Watch our video walkthrough here)

1. Open the patient’s chart. Submitted forms will appear under “Outstanding Items”.
2. Click on the form’s name to open and review patient responses. 
   • Both providers and staff will have visibility of all the question texts and answers including the patient's agreement status, signature, and the date and time the signature was provided for signature questions.
3. If you’d like to export any responses to the chart, check the checkbox to the left of the response.
   • Important Note: In order to export a medication, you must first click “Map to Medication” and match it to the correct medication name.

4. Choose whether you are exporting to the “Clinical Profile”, “Visit Note” or both, and click “Export”.
   

5. Provider Level Users can sign off on the completed form(s) to file it into the Chronological Record of the chart. 

    
 

How to manage insurance card images from submitted Patient Forms

Submitted forms will appear in the Outstanding Items section of the patient's chart as usual. When you open a form with insurance card images, you will be able to

1. Compare the information in the images to what you already have on file for the patient
2. Click "Update Insurance" to update the information in your patient's chart with the information on the new card(s)
   • You can click "Edit" again if you need to make any changes after updating
3. Select (check off) the box for insurance card images and click "Export Selected" to export the images to your patient's demographics.
   • Important information:
     • You must update the Insurance Carrier Name, Plan Name, Group ID or Member ID information on file before you can export the images to the patient's demographics. This is to make sure your patients always have the correct insurance data stored in their chart.
     • Historical insurance card images will be filed into the Reports section of the patient's chart for record keeping if new images replace historical images.
     • Images can only be exported to the Demographics section; regardless if you select Clinical Profile or Visit Note during export.

 

 

Locating completed Patient Forms in the chart

 

Reports

Completed forms are automatically filed into the Patient Forms section of the Reports section of the patient's chart. You can always re-file completed forms under a different report category if you wish.

 

Chronological Record

After Patient Forms are signed off and filed into the Chronological Record of the patient chart, your practice can use the Chronological Record Search to easily locate the forms. Searching by the form title in the search bar (ex: Medical History or Consent to Treat) will pull up the form. 


 

Advanced Tips

This section contains advanced tips for using the Patient Forms feature. For a complete list of frequently asked questions, please see Patient Forms - Frequently Asked Questions.

  

Creating forms

• Family History & Medical History: add additional conditions to present to your patient by clicking “+ Add condition” and typing the condition name. Click “x” to remove any conditions from the list.
• When creating forms to gather patient electronic signatures:
  • Create stand-alone forms with only the Patient Signature question in the form so that it is easy for your practice to locate specific forms and patient signatures. You can associate multiple forms to an appointment type, so you will still be able to collect all the information that you need. For example, a new patient appointment type may have a Consent to Treat (signature) form, as well as a Medical History form. 
  • Use naming conventions for Titles that will help your practice identify forms that contain signatures such as:
    • Consent to Treat
    • HIPAA Consent
    • Membership Agreement
• When a form is linked to an appointment type, the name of the appointment type(s) will be displayed directly in the form details

• Rearrange the order of your questions by clicking and dragging the dots to the left of each question tile
• To delete any existing form from the Forms menu, click the “Delete” button.
  • Important Note: You will not be able to restore any deleted forms. Deleted forms will be immediately removed from linked appointment types and may affect the patient's ability to complete the form it was sent to a patient.

 

 

Adding a Report Category option for Patient Signature Forms

Patient Forms will arrive in the patient chart as a Patient Form Report by default. Elation has an additional report category, Patient Consent Report, where you can file these forms. Once an Admin Level User has added the Patient Consent Report Category in the Admin Only settings, you can file the report as a Patient Consent Report with the following steps:

1. Hover your mouse over the form and click "Actions" -> "Edit Details"
2. Click on the Report Category dropdown and select “Patient Consent Report”
3. Click "Save" to save your changes

 

Adding forms to appointment types

• If you have added multiple forms to an appointment type, you can click-and-drag the dots to change the order in which the forms are displayed to the patient.
• To remove a form from an appointment type, edit the appointment type and click the "X" button next to the linked form and then save.

 

Sending forms to patients

• Appointments, with forms attached, can be scheduled via the Elation calendar or via your Booking Site. If you would like a patient to self-schedule through the Booking Site, review the How to set up your Patient Booking Site instructions to set up your Booking Site and make sure the appointment type is enabled.
• If the patient does not have an email address saved in Elation when the appointment is scheduled, forms will not be automatically sent to them. When you click on the appointment in the calendar, the "Resend" button will be disabled.
  • To rectify, you can enter the patient's email address in their chart after booking the appointment and then click the “Resend” button in the Appointment Details view to email the forms to the patient on-demand.
• You can use the "Resend" button at any time before forms are complete to send the forms link to your patient to prompt them to complete the forms, even if forms have already been sent to them.
• If you need to open the patient’s form on your computer, click the “Copy URL” link to copy the form web address and paste it in your internet browser.
  • You can also email this URL directly to the patient for them to open the forms on their side.
• Under the “Edit” view in an appointment, if any forms were submitted to your practice outside of Elation (ex. faxed or on paper), you can manually check the checkbox next to the name of the form to mark a form as completed. 

 

Reviewing and exporting responses

• By default, completed Patient Forms are filed under the Patient Forms report category. To view all completed Patient Forms at once, click on “Reports" -> "Patient Forms”
• Completed forms will appear in the Outstanding Items section of the patient's chart for Provider Level users to sign off.
  • Important Note: Admin Level Users can turn on a setting for specific Patient Forms to allow Staff Level Users to sign off on completed forms. This feature is ideal for forms that generally do not require provider oversight such as forms for demographics or insurance collection. Check "This form does not require provider sign-off" when editing the patient form to permit staff sign-off on specified patient form types.
    • This feature is gradually being released to users in the month of February and March of 2024. All users will have access to this feature by end of March 2024.
• When exporting responses, you can click “Select All” if you want to export all responses from the form.
• If a medication from the form is already in the patient’s medication list, you can leave it unmapped so that duplicates do not appear in the Clinical Profile when you export responses.
• After exporting responses to the Clinical Profile or Visit Note, you can modify the wording of the responses in the chart.

 

How patients receive and fill out forms (Watch our video walkthrough here)

Patients will receive an email containing a link to the form(s) that need to be completed after they book an appointment. We have created a patient-facing quick guide that explains how to easily fill out and submit electronic intake forms. We encourage you to share this PDF with your patients to help them feel more comfortable with online intake: https://docsend.com/view/fcgjvqv

  

 

Filling out eSignature forms as a Patient

As patients complete forms that require eSignatures, they have the ability to review the information provided, indicate their agreement or disagreement, and draw their signature using their cursor. Patients are required to indicate their agreement or disagreement and provide their signature in order to submit the form. If they make an error while signing, they can click "Clear Signature" to start over. Once the signature is entered and the form is completed, they can submit the completed form by selecting "Submit and continue" located at the bottom of the form.
 

 

Uploading insurance card images as a Patient

Once patients receive forms with an insurance card image question, they can use a file selector on the computer or mobile device to select and submit images of their insurance card. Patients will be able to see what the images look like and attach better images if the quality is not ideal.

• User Tip: If the patient is using a mobile device with a camera, they can also take pictures of their insurance cards while completing the form to attach them.

 

Using Medical History Forms for Virtual Intake/Telehealth

Medical History Forms can play a vital role at your practice if you are considering incorporating virtual care into your business. Especially when faced with reduced staff and limited time, you can use this feature to minimize the need to transcribe or scan paper forms. Instead, electronically collected patient responses can be directly imported into charts.

 

Tips for Forms

• Update your Appointment Type names to reflect the virtual nature of visits - ex. “Followup - Telehealth”, “Visit - Telehealth”. When appointment reminders are delivered to your patients, this will help remind them that the visit is virtual. 
• Invest time to transform as many paper forms as possible into electronic forms. Use the “Other” question type to create custom questions that collect more than medical history questions (ex. Patient Forms - Sample Forms and Use Cases)
• Consider allowing patients to book their own appointments through the Booking Site to reduce administrative burden on your practice.

 

Tips for Booking Site (watch our video walkthrough here)

If patients book an appointment through the Booking Site, a link to the appointment's forms will be sent to the patient according to the timing preferences that you configured on the "Appointment Types" page:

• The booking confirmation page will automatically include the forms link if you chose to send forms "immediately upon booking" or if the appointment is within the number of days that you set for delivery.
• The forms link will also be emailed to the patient according to the appointment type's timing preferences.

When setting up your Booking Site, take the following steps:

1. Customize your Practice Description - you can explain which visits will be virtual and any office policy updates.
2. Enable Appointment Types for booking - not all appointment types need to be enabled on the Booking Site, only those that you want patients to see.
3. Customize Appointment Type Description - explain here how the appointment will be initiated, (ex. if you plan to call the patient or you are sending a video link using How to set up Elation Integrated Video)

 

 

 

Related Articles

• Patient Forms Introduction
• Patient Forms - Sample Forms and Use Cases
• Patient Forms - Frequently Asked Questions
• Patient Guide
• How to set up your Patient Booking Site
• How to set up Elation Integrated Video
• Insurance Card Image Upload Guide