Patient registration

What is patient registration?

Patient registration is the process of collecting and recording important patient information like demographics, medical history, PCP information, insurance information and consent. The process should make every new patient feel like they are the priority from the first moment they engage with your practice. Unfortunately, a poorly run patient registration process can not only create the wrong first impression but also negatively impact clinic workflows with fragmented information collection. We’ve all been caught up in tedious, repetitive, and confusing registration processes that leave us frustrated with a poor onboarding experience.

In many cases, we wonder if we can trust a practice that makes us jump through confusing hoops just to get into their system. It doesn’t have to be that way at your practice. By streamlining patient registration, your practice can make it clear that you value every patient’s time.

Why making clients at your behavioral practice feel valued is important

Research shows that better relationships with patients lead to better outcomes. A good provider-patient relationship is essential for helping patients get the most out of their treatment. It’s also critical for helping patients to adhere to their treatment plan for better outcomes.

How to improve patient registration to reflect your practice's commitment to excellence

Can you actually improve the patient registration process without taking on additional administrative burdens? The truth is that most behavioral practices are already stretched too thin as it is. Front-office staff members are struggling just to keep up with patient calls and messages, appointment scheduling, billing, and trying to keep on top of prescription refill requests.

Improving patient registration doesn’t have to mean adding more to your staff’s plate. With the right patient registration software, your practice can seamlessly pivot to a smoother, better registration process that requires less time and effort to manage. First, let’s talk about what a good patient registration process looks like.

A generic patient registration form makes a patient feel like just another number during the onboarding process. A dynamic process makes them feel valued and important. That’s why Linear Health developed the industry’s best patient registration software for mental health practices, which is optimised for mobile and designed to be seamless for the patient.

What makes us different? While we designed our patient registration process dedicated to behavioral health providers, we designed it around patients. Using the Linear Health digital registration form builder to create your practice’s registration forms, you’ll be:

• Valuing your client’s time.
• Focusing on delivering a great experience.
• Delivering a great experience from the very first patient-provider interaction to set a tone of excellence.
• Providing flexibility to complete registration forms from anywhere using any device, especially being optimized for their phone. 
• Enabling your patients to sign forms with ease with a mobile-first design. 
• Using 100% HIPAA-compliant tools that ensure your patient’s information is always safe.
• Protecting patient data at multiple levels to maintain privacy and confidentiality that will help establish trust and confidence in your practice.

At Linear Health, we know that the first key to improving customer service is taking a patient-centric approach. That approach needs to run throughout your practice, r your patient registration forms and intake process.

What information should I be collecting with my practice's behavioral health registration form?

One common mistake made at behavioral health practices around the country is failing to collect pertinent and accurate information from the start. When practices use incomplete registration forms, they are caught up in a constant effort of trying to catch up with a patient’s information. This leads to the problem of asking patients for information that they might have provided already, which is unprofessional and frustration for the patient.

By beginning with a dynamic and complete registration form that captures all of the important information that will be needed from the initial visit to the prescription and referral stages, a practice can offer a better patient experience. Thorough registration forms and intake process can help reduce wasted staff time chasing up missing information and allow front desk, schedulers and billers to work in harmony from a single source of truth within the Linear Health platform.

Linear Health’s customizable registration form builder allows you to customize the data that you collect. Wondering what information is collected on patient registration forms? Here are some of the most common pieces of information new patient registration forms capture:

• Patient’s full name
• Patient’s address
• Date of birth (DOB)
• Gender
• Primary care physician
• Family medical and psychiatric history 
• Mental health history
• Physical health history
• Substance and alcohol abuse
• Emergency contact information
• Insurance information
• Consent to treatment

Finally, you’ll want patients to sign confidentiality forms and gain consent for treatment. With our integrated eSignature capability, staff don’t need to jump to another portal to do this, download and upload documents manually to the EHR, our integrated platform makes this seamless, purpose-built for mental healthcare by mental health providers and clinic operators.

Are you ready to improve patient registration at your behavioral health practice?

Customer service matters in behavioral health. By focusing on improving the patient registration and intake process for your new patients, you’ll create a legacy of trust and confidence that leads to satisfied clients. Contact us to learn more about our integrated platform solution that brings all the fragmented tools together to deliver a simple yet seamless experience.