New Patient Intake Form

Use our new patient intake form to streamline your onboarding process. Organized and coherent, this resource will enable you to improve patient experience, communication, and efficiency.

By Chloe Smith on Apr 12, 2024.

Fact Checked by Ericka Pingol.

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What is a New Patient Intake Form?

A is a document that healthcare practitioners use when they onboard a client into their practice. Essentially, these forms gather information regarding the patient’s health and treatment goals to ensure that the practitioner makes accurate and informed decisions. Although the specific information that is included in an intake form can differ depending on healthcare specializations, they usually involve patient details, medical history, the patient’s primary concern, insurance information, and what they are wanting to achieve with treatment. Using an intake form helps streamline the onboarding process and reduces the likelihood of clinical and administrative staff having to repeatedly follow up with patients. To help healthcare practitioners with this process, we have designed an intuitive new patient intake form that can be downloaded and used whenever necessary. The template is easily accessed and edited and has been developed to be versatile in its applicability. In this guide, we’ll explain how you can use our intake form template without your practice, before diving into some of the specific benefits associated with the resource. Let’s get started!

Printable New Patient Intake Form

Download these templates for New Patient Intake Form to improve your client intake process and HIPAA compliance.

How to Use This Template for New Patient Intake Form

Using our new patient intake form template within your healthcare business is fairly simple. We have written a brief step-by-step guide to implementing the form effectively, and as long as you follow it, you’ll be good to go. 

Step One: Download the template

The first thing you need to do is access and download the intake form template. If you click on the link that we’ve included on this page the resource should open in the PDF reader on your device. From here, you should download the document so that it can be easily accessed at a later date. You can choose to either store the intake form electronically on your device, or you can print it out if you would prefer to use hard copies. 

Step Two: Give the intake form to new patients 

The next step involves giving the intake forms to new patients for them to complete. You have a couple of options for how you can do this. If you would prefer to keep the process online, you can send the patient a link to the template and they can complete it electronically before sending it back to you. Alternatively, you can wait until the day of the patient’s first session and they can complete the intake form while in the waiting room. Although both of these options can be effective, we recommend asking the patient to complete the form prior to their first session, as this will ensure efficiency and timeliness. 

Step Three: Upload the data to your system

When the patient has completed the intake form and given it back to you, you need to upload the information to your system. This will ensure that the relevant practitioner has access to all of the client data that they need in order to treat the patient appropriately.

New Patient Intake Form Example (Sample)

To help you visualize what our new patient intake form looks like in action, we’ve created a sample document. It is based on a fictional patient who is being onboarded to a new healthcare practice. While the specific information contained in the intake form sample will evidently differ from yours, it should help you gain an insight into the layout and function of the resource.

Download this New Patient Intake Form Example (Sample) here: 

New Patient Intake Form Example (Sample)

Who Can Use this Printable New Patient Intake Form (PDF)?

We understand that the healthcare industry is both versatile and fluid, and have ensured our template is responsive to this. Some of the many practitioners who will be able to use the intake form template include:

  • General Practitioners
  • Counselors
  • Occupational Therapists 
  • Psychologists
  • Psychiatrists 
  • Mental Health Therapists 
  • Physical Therapists

All of these practitioners are able to be both the referring physician, as well as the referred physician. Additionally, if you don’t see your specific field of healthcare in the above list, then don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you won’t get value from the template. Essentially, if you are a practicing physician who refers your patients to other practitioners, then our template will suit your needs

Why is This Form Useful for Clinicians?

This new patient intake form has a range of different uses for practitioners. As I’m sure you know, the day-to-day schedules of practicing physicians are typically very busy. With this form template, you’ll be able to focus on optimizing your processes while also saving time.

  • Automate the intake process: Onboarding can be both time-consuming and complex. It is the responsibility of the healthcare practice to ensure the patient is prepared and ready to receive treatment, which means they need to gather all of the relevant data. Using an intake form will streamline the onboarding process and ensure that the patient’s needs are being met, and the practitioner is able to make informed clinical decisions. 
  • Organization: Using a new patient intake form will also improve your organization. Staying on top of documentation is a difficult enough task as it is, let alone having to ensure these documents are neat, coherent, and easily accessed. By using a template that already has a layout and clear structure, you can guarantee organization without having to spend extra time managing it. 
  • Saves time: One of the best outcomes of implementing this template is the time it will save you. You can access the intake forms and send them to new clients with just a couple of clicks. The time that you save from utilizing the template can instead be spent completing other tasks, allowing you to improve productivity.
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Why Use Carepatron For New Patient Intake Form?

Using practice management software like Carepatron is one of the best decisions you can make for your healthcare business. A highly sophisticated platform, Carepatron is integrated with a wide range of different features that aim to optimize the processes at your practice. In addition to offering a robust set of resources and templates, Carepatron also has a client portal. Healthcare practices can use this client portal to distribute and receive intake forms from patients. It enables a secure messaging channel, through which patients and practitioners can seamlessly communicate. This portal also displays information regarding the patient’s appointments, payments, and clinical notes. Further, if you invest in Carepatron you’ll never have to worry about security again. Entirely HIPAA-compliant, the platform can store all of your documents (including intake forms) using cloud-based technology. Carepatron employs multiple levels of bank-grade encryption in addition to various physical safeguards, so your patients’ privacy is protected at all times.

Patient Intake Software
Why should my clients complete a patient intake form?
Why should my clients complete a patient intake form?

Commonly asked questions

Why should my clients complete a patient intake form?

Patient intake forms are important for a number of reasons. Firstly, they ensure that practitioners have access to the information required to accurately treat the new patient. They also allow the patient to explain what they are looking for in regard to their treatment, as well as specific goals or interventions that they want. Finally, intake forms streamline the onboarding process, helping to improve the general workflow at a practice.

Are intake forms protected by HIPAA?

Yes, intake forms contain confidential information concerning a patient and so need to be stored accordingly. You can choose whether to store your intake forms online, using an EHR platform, or you can store physical copies somewhere secure. Regardless of what decision you make, it is absolutely essential that there are safeguards in place protecting your patients’ privacy.

When should patients complete intake forms?

It is a good idea to ask your patient to complete the intake form prior to their first session at the practice. This will mean that they have a more seamless experience on the day of their appointment, as well as help improve the workflow at your business.

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