As you review your patient registration form, don’t take anything for granted. You may be surprised to discover your form fails to ask some basics such as
- Emergency contact information
- Driver’s license number (useful in tracking down a patient who owes you money—but remember, in some states patients have a legal right to refuse this information)
- Spouse’s employment information (essential when the spouse is the guarantor or primary insured)
- Referral source
- Signed authorizations to release information
Often a practice uses a form that doesn’t fit its specialty. If a pediatrician uses a generic registration form, for example, it may not capture enough guarantor information or include an authorization to treat a minor patient.
