When engaging with patients, it is important to capture as much information about your patient as possible. This information is retained in the patient demographics interface and is used to inform patient communications, insurance billing, marketing, and other practice efforts.
In this article, you will learn:
- Where to access patient demographics
- Turning on and off patient demographics questions
- Details captured in patient demographics
Patient Demographic Locations
Patient demographics can be accessed in three locations:
1. When creating a new patient from the calendar:
2. When adding a new patient from appointment creation:
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3. From the individual patient history
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Turn on/off questions in patient demographics
You can determine which questions your practice would like patients to complete in their patient demographics.
To configure these questions:
1. Go to Scheduler->Practice Account->Medical History then select the Demographic Info tab.
2. Use the toggle switch for each question to either Ask or Hide the question.
Patient Demographic Details
Let's have a closer look at patient demographics.
Patient Name and Photo
Patient name is broken down into first name and last name, middle name, and chosen name which is displayed in parenthesis. The only required fields in patient demographics are first and last name.
Clicking in patient profile photo will activate the camera when using a mobile device or the desktop to load a stored image. Patients can also upload their profile photo from the patient portal.
Patient Badges
Badges allow you to indicate the status of a patient account. The selected badge displays on the patient chart as well as all of the patient's appointments.
Patient Communication
It is important to capture as many modes of communication as possible. Email is the most frequently used mode of communication from Remedly. Cell phone must be completed and activated as Yes for text messages to be sent to the patient.
Be sure to designate how patients prefer to be contacted - if No is selected, the patient will no longer receive communications via that mode.
Patients can also select their preferred mode of communication via their patient portal.
If the email address is shared with another patient within this practice, a warning will display that the email address is already in use. Also, a link to the patient using the email is provided, opening that patient history in a separate tab.
It is possible for multiple patients to have the same email address. A family for instance may want to have their children use the same email address as their parent.
Because a patient's email address is also their username for accessing the patient portal:
- When the email address is shared across multiple patients, unique passwords will allow access to the different accounts. However using the same email and password across multiple patient accounts will prompt the user to select which account to access by displaying patient date of birth as an account differentiator.
- Once a patient has accessed the patient portal, changing their email will also change their username for patient portal access, and they will be notified via email to their original email address that their email address has changed.
Patient Address and Birthdate
Select the country to determine the correct input fields for the address fields. The Birthdate enables Birthday Specials to be sent via the Marketing module.
For more information on Birthday Specials, please see the following article:
Patient Gender
Select among the options of gender, pronouns, and ethnicity.
Remedly allows patients to choose from the following default options of desired provouns:
- he/him
- she/her
- they/them
- ze/hir
- other
When the patient chooses the Other option, a desired combination of pronouns can be inputted into the text field.
The desired patient pronouns can be marked in 3 places:
1. Patient demographics
2. Medical history on the provider's side
3. Medical history in the patient portal
When the changes are saved, the preferred pronouns will be available in the appointment window.
Social Security, Emergency, and Insurance Data
For patients who will be billing insurance claims, it is important to capture social security number (SSN) as well as all insurance policies. Emergency contact information is also helpful.
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Once all input fields have been completed, please be sure to click Save.
If populated, the following fields will be highlighted on patient history for easy access:
- Patient name
- Referral source
- Date of birth
- Contact phone (defaults to cell)
- Email address
- Patient address
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