10 Main Importance of Patient Registration Forms

Registering a patient is the very first and initial step whenever the patient will need the services of a medical center and health insurance agency. This process will be aided by a patient registration form which will be provided by the personnel of the service providers.

The patient registration form is often presented in a printed document, however, due to the evolution of technology, some medical service providers also require their clients to fill out an online registration form. Nonetheless, the importance of this document does not diminish regardless of the format in which it is used. The following are the top ten known reasons why this registration form is vital for the medical field:

• Acquire the patient’s general information. A section of the form is similar to a patient information form which focuses on the general data of the patient. This will state the patient’s name, contact information, email address, the location of permanent residency, date of birth, age, gender, social security number, marital status, and the patient’s employment information.

• Know the patient’s medical information. This is one of the main intentions of a patient registration form. With the patient’s medical information, the doctors and medical personnel will be able to determine the specific medical practice and actions to be provided for the patient. The information should include the patient’s list of allergies to inform the doctor about possible system reactions that the patient may face due to a particular ingredient of a medicine.

• Have the details of the patient’s insurance type. The patient will have to state whether he is a health insurance policy holder or if he is merely a dependent from one of his relatives. The name of the insurance company must be indicated with the insurance number of the patient to allow the medical service provider or group in reaching out the company.

• State the payment expectations. By knowing the patient’s conditions and information, the accounting personnel in the medical center will be able to provide a range of amount which is to be expected by the patient. The range, however, will vary on what sort of treatment that the patient will undergo to treat him. Other medical centers provide a well-defined and specified line item for the payment to allow the patient in knowing the reason for his payment and where it will be allocated.

• Provide a release. The medical center must indicate a statement for a release of liability and a medical records release in the patient’s registration form. The release of liability will be for assuring that whatever medical procedure agreed by the patient to be done which ends in a failure will not point the center as the liable party. The medical record’s release, on the other hand, will be for allowing the medical center and personnel to use the information stated on the form for the patient’s benefit and advantage. Before the patient will sign the release, he must be certain and make sure that he will on release necessary information to the authorized person in order to protect himself and his privacy.

• Acquire an authorization and consent. Similar to the aforementioned release statements, a medical authorization, and a medical consent will be used for letting an authorized person do an action for the patient. However, this medical authorization and consent will center on authorizing and allowing the medical personnel to provide specific services for the patient. In the event that a patient needs a representative for filling out the patient registration, the representative must ask for the patient’s permit before he will affix his signature on the document.

• Supplies data for recording. A medical center and organizations work similarly to all other business enterprises except that it focuses on dealing and providing services to patients. With this, they also need to use tracking forms and systems in order to efficiently input and record the information of their patients, employees, doctors, and their transactions.

• Assure a schedule. Doctors and nurses, as well as surgeons, are known as one of the busiest professions in the world due to the demand of their services 24/7. These people need a well-laid down plan for dealing with their everyday work. However, with the aid of the patient registration form, the medical personnel will be able to assign the appropriate doctors to each patient who needs them in a timely manner. It should be assured that the stated dates and time on the doctor’s schedule forms are available and consulted from the doctor himself. The schedule may also be stated in the form to inform the patient about when he will be expected to visit and have an approved doctor’s appointment.

• Aid in verifying. With the data being recorded on the database system of the medical center, the patient can easily head out for a medical verification whenever he needs to acquire pieces of information. The medical personnel may also use the information on the form to verify to an insurance provider as an assurance that a patient is indeed a policy holder or a beneficiary. The form will also be useful for verifying other information of the patient such as his residency, his employment, and the contact information of his emergency contact person.

• Promotes a seamless billing process. With the registration form, the medical personnel will be able to process the billing immediately and send it out to the address or the room number of the patient. These locations are also stated on the form which makes it easier to locate the patient and provide vital documents such as receipts, medical records, certificate forms, and even state and invoice in the medical center’s database about the patient.

Regardless of what type of medical form and documents a patient and the medical personnel will be using, it should be used only for stating the data which relates to the needs of the patient. These ten significance of a patient registration form, however, should always be remembered and acknowledged to promote the usage of the document and to assure that the processes after the registration phase will not be showing any glitches due to the misconception and mistaken data on the form.