Digital Bariatrics News

Patient Intake

5/30/2006 9:48:32 AM

The initial patient intake starts in the portal. On our website, there is a link to the patient portal. The portal address can have a name that matches the practice, for instance, our address is greatlakes.digitalbaritrics.net - an easy to use url that allows the patients to feel confident that they are submitting their data to our practice, Great Lakes Weight Loss. In the portal, the patient adds all of his or her medical history, along with referring physician information and demographic data. We have our call center trained in the use of the portal to serve as an assistant to those patients who do not feel comfortable working with the portal. You can even create accounts for call center personnel that provide them with limited access to the BPM that allows them to create and update user accounts for the patients.

When the patient shows up for his or her appointment, our coordinator prints out a copy of all of the intake information and puts it in the chart for the surgeon to review. This information is simply a letter template that outputs the intake information in a easy to read fashion. When the surgeon meets with the patient, he can review the letter template quickly with the patient and modify it as needed based on the intake history and physical exam. The surgeon also indicates all of the desired pre-operative evaluations (cardiology, psychiatry, etc.). The coordinator enters this list of evaluations into the BPM and generates a printout for the patient that contains the list, along with instructions for each item to be completed. These instructions frequently include phone numbers and addresses for referring physicians as well as other details to ensure the evaluation is performed properly. The coordinator then enters the modifications indicated by the surgeon into the BPM and prints out a comprehensive initial visit letter, addressed to the patient's referring physicians, frequently before the patient has even left the office building.