Common omissions on your patient registration form

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.