Remember all those clipboards stuffed with forms at your doctor’s office? Thankfully, these ubiquitous clipboards are becoming a relic of the past. Today, contactless patient intake methods are transforming healthcare and enhancing patient and provider experiences. But how do these digital systems compare to the trusty clipboard?

The Familiar Face of Traditional Intakes

We’ve all been there:

• Arrive at the clinic.
• Grab a clipboard.
• Hunker down in the waiting room to tackle the paperwork – insurance details, medical history, consent forms – the works.

There’s a certain comfort in this routine; it’s predictable, tangible, and has been the status quo for years. For some, pen and paper feel reassuringly straightforward.

But this old-school approach has some significant downsides, including the following:

• Forms vanish into thin air (or at least it seems that way)
• Handwriting is often next to impossible to decipher
• Patients duplicate efforts by entering the same info on repeated forms
• Patients don’t have the info they need when they arrive at the office and thus leave some forms blank
• Staff spend precious hours entering data into existing systems

When you look at it that way, it’s a wonder clipboards have stayed around this long.

Contactless Intakes: Where Efficiency Meets Innovation

Contactless intake is all about working smarter, not harder. Using contactless intake, patients get an automated link to the needed forms via text or email before their appointment, and they can fill out all the paperwork digitally from the comfort of their homes. No more arriving early to wrestle with forms and no more leaving critical questions blank. It’s a win-win—providers get the information they need, and patients have the time and resources to provide it.

But that’s just the beginning of the benefits. Staff can say goodbye to piles of data entry, illegible scribbles, and lost forms. With contactless intake systems, everything’s neatly entered into the practice’s system, ready to be accessed as needed.

The Showdown: Clipboards vs. Contactless

• Time is Money: Traditional methods can double or triple the time needed for a quick medical visit. Contactless? It’s like hitting the fast-forward button on the whole process.
• Accuracy is King: Paper forms and human error go hand in hand. Contactless intakes? Fewer people touching the data means fewer errors.
• Patient Preferences Matter: Some folks will continue to prefer paper. But for the tech-savvy crowd (and that number’s growing every day), digital is the only way to go.
• Safety First: In our post-pandemic world, less touching means less germ-spreading. Contactless intakes are like a virtual handshake – all the connection, none of the cooties.

The Verdict: Embracing the Best of Both Worlds

As things stand today, both methods continue to have their place in the healthcare ecosystem. Smart practices choose to take a “why not both?” approach. Offering traditional and contactless options to your patients shows you’re flexible and concerned about patient needs. After all, healthcare isn’t one-size-fits-all – why should check-ins be?

In the end, it’s about making healthcare accessible for everyone. Whether you’re using clipboards or contactless platforms, the goal is the same – getting your patients the care they need with the least hassle for everyone.