Quick Reference — To configure patient health forms

athenaCommunicator

 

You can associate each form with specific appointment types, departments, providers, and specialties (for multispecialty practices), and you can configure the form for male or female patients only or for patients in specific age ranges. You can also configure age range and sex at the section level (for example, GYN History).

 

Making forms available for patients on the Patient Portal is a multi-step process: Please follow these steps in order:

 

Step 1 — To prepare your forms for the Patient Portal

  1. If you use athenaClinicals, ensure that all the questions you need are configured for the Clinicals sections that you plan to use on the forms.
  2. Determine how many forms you need to build and consider whether you will associate the forms with specific appointment types, departments, providers, or specialties.
  3. Determine whether you will categorize entire forms or sections of forms by age range and sex.

Step 2 — To create patient health history forms

  1. Display the Patient Portal Health Forms page: On the Main Menu, click Settings > Communicator. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Patient Portal, click Patient Portal Health Forms or On the Main Menu, click Settings > Clinicals. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Forms and Letters, click Patient Portal Health Forms.
  2. Click Add new.
  3. Form name — Enter a name for the form.
  4. Description — You can enter a brief description of the form (this description is visible to patients).
  5. Appointment types — To use this form for specific appointment types only, click Selected and then select the appointment types.
  6. Providers — To use this form for specific providers only, click Selected and then select the providers.
  7. Departments — To use this form for specific departments only, click Selected and then select the departments.
  8. Specialties — To use this form for specific specialties only, click Selected and then select the specialties.
  9. Age range — To use this form for patients in a specific age range only, enter the minimum and maximum patient age.
  10. Sex — To use this form for male or female patients only, select the patient sex from the menu (the default value is Everyone).
  11. Live on Portal — Leave this box unchecked until the form is complete.
  12. Click Save.

Tip: If two or more forms will be very similar but will vary by appointment type, department, etc., use the copy function after you create one entire form.

 

Step 3 — To build form sections

  1. Display the Patient Portal Health Forms page: On the Main Menu, click Settings > Communicator. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Patient Portal, click Patient Portal Health Forms.
  2. Click build form next to the form that you want to add sections to.

    The Form Sections page appears.

  3. Click Add new to add a section.
  4. Section name — Enter a name for this section.
    Note: Any customized section names are not displayed on the Health History Form in the pre-appointment patient self check-in workflow.
  5. Type — Select the type of section.
  6. Description — Enter a description.
  7. Age range — To use this section of the form for patients in a specific age range only, enter the minimum and maximum patient age.
  8. Sex — To use this section of the form for male or female patients only, select the patient sex from the menu (the default value is Everyone).
  9. Order — Enter a number to specify where this section appears in a list of sections. By default, the sections appear in alphabetical order.
    Note: You can create multiple copies of each type of section for patients of different age ranges and sexes.
  10. Click Save.

Step 4 — To add questions to a section (athenaClinicals only)

  1. Display the Patient Portal Health Forms page: On the Main Menu, click Settings > Communicator. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Patient Portal, click Patient Portal Health Forms.
  2. Click build form next to the form to which you want to add section fields.
    The Form Sections page appears.
  3. Click select fields to add questions to that section.
    The Form Questions page appears.
  4. Click add/remove fields.
    With athenaClinicals, the available questions appear for the Clinicals sections that you configured.
  5. Check the box next to the questions that you want to appear on the form to the patient.
    Tip: If you need to remove only a few questions, click Select all and then remove the unnecessary questions from the Selected side by clicking the x next to the question.
  6. Click Save.
    Note: With athenaClinicals, both the Medications section and the Allergies section retrieve the data listed in athenaClinicals; therefore, you cannot add medications and allergies as questions in a section. However, patients can search the Medications and Allergy database when filling out their forms on the Patient Portal.

After you add all the necessary fields, you can edit field labels to make them easier to understand for patients, if necessary.

  1. Click edit label next to the question label that you want to edit.
  2. In the Label field, select the text that is visible to the patient and delete it.
  3. Type the label text that you want the patient to see. You can enter a label that is easier to understand than the field name. For example, if the field name is "DTaP," you can create this label: "Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis Vaccine."
  4. Click Save.

Step 5 — To make forms available on the Patient Portal

  1. Display the Patient Portal Health Forms page: On the Main Menu, click Settings > Communicator. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Patient Portal, click Patient Portal Health Forms or On the Main Menu, click Settings > Clinicals. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Forms and Letters, click Patient Portal Health Forms.
    Tip: After you configure a form, preview it for all your various patient combinations.
  2. Click preview form next to each form to preview the form before you publish it to the Patient Portal.
  3. Enter a patient ID for a patient that matches the criteria of that form (for example, within the age range and of the appropriate sex).
  4. Click Preview Form.
    The introduction for that form appears. Note: The preview only shows the legacy Health History Form functionality, not the current experience.
  5. Click Save & Next or click a section to the right (for example, Family Health History) to preview that part of the form.
  6. Display the Patient Portal Health Forms page: On the Main Menu, click Settings > Clinicals. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Forms and Letters, click Patient Portal Health Forms.
  7. Click edit next to the form.
  8. Live on Portal — Check this box to make the form available on the Patient Portal.
  9. Click Save.
    Patients who fit the filtering criteria (for example, age, sex, appointment, provider, department, specialty) can now access the form when they log on to the Patient Portal.