Patient Forms: Building Them, Sending Them, Getting the PDF Back
Patient Forms replaces the clipboard. You build your own forms once, text a patient a link before their visit, and download the completed answers as a PDF you file wherever you keep records.
You'll find it under Patient Care > Forms in your dashboard navigation. The page has two tabs: Sent forms (sending and tracking) and Form library (building and editing).
The completed PDF is something you download and file yourself. Forms do not write answers directly into your practice software's fields. Nothing is sent to a patient unless a staff member sends it.
Quick tutorial: send a form to a patient
- Open Patient Care > Forms and stay on the Sent forms tab.
- Click Send a form.
- Under Which form?, pick the form you want. Every published form your practice has appears here, along with the built-in intake form (marked Built in).
- If the form has any office-entered fields, you'll be asked for them next, under Entered by the office. These are the things a patient cannot know -- a tooth number, a procedure name. Fill them in and click Continue.
- Enter the Patient mobile number and click Continue.
- Check the number on the confirm step. If it's wrong, click Change the number. If you picked the wrong form, click Back. When it's right, click Yes, send it.
- The patient gets a text with a link. The form appears in the list with its name and a Status.
- When they finish, open the row and click Download PDF.
The message a patient receives contains the link and nothing else. It does not say which form it is, and it does not say anything about the patient. A form called "Implant Consent" is still just a link in the patient's inbox.
Quick tutorial: build your own form
- Open Patient Care > Forms and switch to the Form library tab.
- Click New form.
- Give it a Form name (what staff see when picking it) and a Short name (the internal id).
- Choose the Kind: Intake for questions, Consent for anything the patient signs.
- Add your sections and fields. Save as you go with Save draft.
- When it's ready, publish it. It becomes available in the Send a form picker immediately.
To change a form later, click Edit on it in the Form library.
Publishing an edit does not change the version already in a patient's hands. Anyone part-way through a form keeps the version they were sent, and any completed submission keeps the exact wording the patient actually read. That is deliberate -- a signed consent has to stay the thing that was signed.
What each button does
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Send a form | Starts the send flow: pick a form, office fields, phone number, confirm |
| Which form? | The picker. Lists every published form plus the built-in one |
| Continue | Moves to the next step. Does not send anything |
| Back / Change the number | Goes back a step before anything is sent |
| Yes, send it | Texts the patient the link. This is the only button that sends anything |
| Search by phone number | Finds links by the patient number, across every form ever sent, not just the recent ones on screen |
| Download PDF | Downloads the completed answers, laid out in the order the patient saw them |
| Revoke link | Kills a live link so it can no longer be opened. Use it if you sent to the wrong number |
| New form | Starts a blank form in the editor |
| Edit | Opens a form for editing. Publishing creates a new version |
| Save draft | Saves your work in progress. A draft is not sendable until published |
| Discard draft | Throws away the unpublished draft and keeps the published version as it was |
Field types you can use
Patient-answered: short text, long text, email, phone, date, yes/no, checkbox, dropdown, radio buttons, signature, and attestation (a tick-to-agree statement).
Office-answered: an office field, filled in by staff at send time rather than by the patient.
Repeating rows, for things like a medications list, where you don't know how many rows a patient will need in advance.
Card details. You cannot build a field that collects a credit card number, CVV or cardholder name. Storing card data is a different kind of regulation from patient health data, and we do not take it on. If your paper packet has a payment box, collect that separately.
Formatting code. Labels and consent text are plain text. Pasted HTML is refused, because it would end up rendering in a patient's browser and in the PDF.
Both refusals happen when you save, and the message names the field so you can rename it.
Frequently asked
Can a patient fill it in on a phone? Yes. That is the intended way -- the link opens in whatever browser they already have, with no app and no account.
What if the patient never finishes it? The link stays live until it expires or you revoke it. The row shows its status so you can see who has and hasn't returned one.
Can I send the same form to the same patient twice? Yes. Each send is its own link with its own answers.
How do I find a form I sent a while ago? Type the patient's number into Search by phone number at the top of the list. Partial numbers work, so the last four digits are usually enough, and the search looks through every form you have ever sent rather than only the recent ones on screen.
Does a consent form need a signature? Only if you put a signature field on it. There is no cap on how many signatures one form can carry -- a packet needing four is fine.
Who can see the answers? Staff signed in to your practice's dashboard. Each practice sees only its own forms and its own submissions.
If something goes wrong
The form I want isn't in the picker. It is probably still a draft. Open the Form library and check it has been published.
I sent to the wrong number. Click Revoke link on the row straight away. The link stops working immediately.
The PDF is missing an answer the patient says they gave. Check whether they submitted -- an unsubmitted form has no answers to show. If they did submit, contact support with the row, and do not re-send: the original submission is kept.
"Answers are not available for this link." The submission could not be read back against the form version it was pinned to. Contact support rather than re-sending.