Best patient intake software: A buyer’s guide for healthcare organizations

What is a patient intake solution?

A patient intake solution is software that makes it easier for healthcare organizations to collect and manage patient information, including medical histories, insurance details, consent forms and payments. Instead of relying on paperwork and manual data entry, digital patient intake uses electronic intake forms and automation to save staff time and simplify check-in for patients.

“Digital patient intake delivers tremendous value to our organization by automatically capturing and integrating important clinical, demographic and social data from patients, consistently and at scale. Our staff no longer has to worry about manual input of lengthy paper interviews and can spend more time addressing patients' needs.”

Step One: Identifying Your Needs

Determine business goals

The first step toward choosing a patient intake solution is determining your business goals. Consider the specific challenges your organization needs to address and what you hope to achieve in doing so. For example:

• Are you receiving negative online reviews about long wait times? You might need a patient intake solution that supports scheduling automation and pre-visit check-in to speed up waiting room throughput.
• Does your organization struggle to collect patients’ financial responsibility? Consider a self-service payment option to boost copay and outstanding-balance collection.

For example, Metroplex Medical Centres needed a way to manage growing patient demand without piling more administrative work onto its staff. As the organization expanded from two to nine clinics, it adopted Phreesia to automate tasks. Today, 92% of Metroplex patients check themselves in, reducing the burden on front-desk teams.  “Patient registration used to take an enormous amount of manpower—forms, data entry, scanning and fixing issues after the fact,” says Sneha Patel, CEO of Metroplex Medical Centres. “When registration is done well and done early, patients arrive prepared, no-shows and cancellations drop, billing is cleaner and teams aren’t scrambling downstream.”

Decide how you’ll measure success

Once you’ve identified your goals, think about how you’ll know whether your new patient intake solution is delivering results. Are you hoping to save staff time, improve employee satisfaction, increase collections or achieve something else? Here are a few questions to ask yourself, along with examples of what success might look like:

• If you could eliminate one time-consuming manual task from your day, what would it be? How would that impact your organization? “Staff could leave on time at the end of the day and have time for longer lunch breaks, which would make them happier at work.”
• If select patient demographic and clinical information automatically flowed back into medical charts, how would that affect your workflows? “I wouldn’t have to try to hire another staff member, which is hard right now due to industry-wide staff shortages.”
• If your organization could collect more of what patients owed before their visit, how could that affect your progress toward business goals? “We would be more profitable, so we could afford to hire the additional nurse we need to be fully staffed.”

Step Two: Evaluating a Partner

Finding a patient intake solution that meets your goals is a good start. But you’ll also want a vendor that can support your organization long after implementation to help you get the most out of your investment. The following criteria can help you weigh your options.

Customer solutions

Even the best software needs the right support behind it. Consider factors like:

• Continuous optimization: Does the vendor have a dedicated customer solutions team to help you optimize your setup? Will they help you adapt as your needs evolve?
• Automatic improvements: How often does the vendor release product enhancements, including updates relevant to how your organization uses the software?
• Deployment: Does the vendor have the resources and capabilities to roll out the solution across multiple locations?
• Training: What training resources are available? Options might include workshops, digital training programs and “train-the-trainer” sessions.

General intake

A smoother check-in experience can save staff time and make visits easier for patients. Consider how well the software accommodates different workflows and patient preferences, such as:

• Intake for specific appointment types: Does the vendor support intake for a variety of appointment types, including telehealth visits?
• Logic-driven workflows: Can you customize intake based on the patient, care setting or appointment type?
• Device options: Can patients check in using mobile devices, tablets or kiosks? What are the adoption rates for each?
• Self-service intake: Can patients complete digital check-in on their own devices?
• Patient experience: Can patients complete the entire intake process in one convenient place, without downloading an app or creating an account?

Revenue cycle management

Collecting payments and confirming insurance can take considerable staff time. The right tools can automate these tasks, reduce billing surprises and help your organization collect more of what it’s owed. Keep an eye out for capabilities like:

• Eligibility and benefits: Does the solution automatically verify insurance coverage before visits and calculate patients’ financial responsibility?
• Patient payments: Does the vendor support options like card on file, payment plans, and mobile or online payments? Can patients use digital wallets like Apple Pay® and Google Pay™?
• Merchant processing: Are the vendor’s payment processing rates competitive? Do they offer in-house support and help with PCI compliance?
• Single platform: Can you manage payments before, during and after visits across multiple locations from one platform?

Clinical content and patient outreach

Intake is also an opportunity to gather information that helps care teams better understand and support patients. Look for tools that make it easier to collect meaningful clinical data and stay connected between visits, including:

• Clinical screening tools and patient-reported outcomes (PROs): Which screening tools and PROs can you incorporate into intake workflows? Does the software automatically score and aggregate results? Can you track patients’ progress over time?
• Social determinants of health: Can you screen patients for unmet social needs using validated measures? Can you automate the sending of resources?
• Patient satisfaction surveys: Does the solution support automated post-visit surveys? Can you easily review, analyze and aggregate patient feedback?
• Targeted digital outreach: Can you send personalized messages to patients between visits? Are customizable templates available?

Patient access and schedule management

Making it easier for patients to schedule appointments also takes pressure off your staff. Consider whether the software helps patients access care while keeping your schedule full and organized with features like:

• Online appointment requests: Can patients request appointments directly through your organization’s website?
• Self-scheduling: Can patients book appointments online, with real-time updates to your scheduling system?
• Automated schedule management: Does the software offer automated tools to fill last-minute cancellations with clinically appropriate patients?
• Referrals: Can your team manage referral requests from one central hub, including digitizing and tracking faxed referrals?

Integration

Your intake software should work smoothly with the systems your team already uses. Consider factors like:

• Automation: Does the solution offer bidirectional integration with your practice management (PM) system, electronic health record (EHR) or other core systems? 
• PM/EHR updates: How does patient information get added to your systems—through discrete data fields, note updates or PDF attachments? Are consent forms attached or flagged appropriately?
• Payment posting: Do payments automatically post to your PM system?
• Appointments: Can patients schedule appointments directly through the intake solution, with real-time updates to your PM/EHR system?

Reporting and analytics

You need a clear picture of what’s working to understand the value of your investment. Look for reporting tools that help you track metrics regarding:

• Product usage: Can you monitor software adoption across locations, staff members and intake methods? Does the vendor have strong adoption rates?
• Financial performance: Can you track patient payments across your organization, reconcile collections at the end of the day and monitor deposits by batch?
• Quality improvement: Can the software aggregate data to help your organization meet quality reporting requirements?
• Patient experience: Can you track patient satisfaction by location or provider to identify areas for improvement?

Security

Patient intake software involves sensitive information, so security and compliance should be a priority from the start. Ask vendors about:

• Certifications: Is the vendor certified with industry-leading security organizations like HITRUST CSF and SOC 2 Type 2?
• Secure payments: Is the vendor Level 1 PCI-compliant? Are all payments hardware-encrypted, and does the vendor provide point-to-point encryption (P2PE)?
• Single sign-on: Can the solution integrate with your organization’s single sign-on platform?
• Device and user management: Does the solution support local device and user management?
• Reporting: Is reporting available by location and/or department, and are permissions role-based?
• Connectivity: Can the vendor support secure and automated data exchange among your key systems (e.g., PM, EHR, health information exchange (HIE), data warehouse, data lake)?

How Phreesia measures up

Choosing by organization size

The best patient intake software for your organization will depend partly on its size and complexity. Here’s what to consider.

Independent practices

For smaller practices with limited staff and resources, every minute counts. Look for a patient intake solution that’s easy to implement, works with your existing systems and takes repetitive tasks off your team’s plate. More specifically, look for features like:

• Self-service check-in
• Electronic intake forms
• Automated insurance verification
• Digital payments
• Responsive customer support (especially if you don’t have dedicated IT staff)

Multi-site groups

Managing patient intake across several locations adds another layer of complexity. You’ll want a solution that standardizes workflows and reporting across your organization while allowing individual locations or specialties to customize intake based on their needs. Prioritize features like:

• Centralized reporting
• Consistent payment processes
• Integrations that keep patient information up to date across systems
• The ability to roll out new features and train staff across sites

Health systems

For health systems, scalability and integration are especially important. Your patient intake solution needs to support high patient volumes, different departments and complex workflows without creating more administrative work. Look for a vendor with experience deploying technology across large organizations, along with enterprise capabilities such as: 

• Single sign-on
• Role-based access controls
• Secure data exchange with EHRs and other systems
• Centralized reporting 
• Dedicated implementation support 

Effingham Health System, a critical access hospital in Georgia with multiple clinics, shows how this can work in practice. The organization started by rolling out Phreesia across its physician practices, then refined its workflows before expanding to other care settings. Within the first month, 89% of patients were checking themselves in, and time-of-service collections increased by 55%. Effingham also achieved a patient Net Promoter Score of 91, demonstrating how a phased rollout can deliver early results while laying the groundwork for broader adoption. “Financial results matter, but the bigger ROI is intangible: patients move through faster and our teams can focus on care instead of paperwork,” says Matthew Moore, chief technology innovation officer at Effingham Health System. “We’re excited to roll out to hospital outpatient. We want to keep growing with Phreesia—one platform that can scale with us.”

What does patient intake software cost?

The cost of patient intake software varies based on your needs and vendor. As you compare vendors, consider these four factors to get a clearer picture of your total investment:

• Pricing model: Ask whether the vendor charges per provider, per location or based on usage. Phreesia generally uses a per-provider, per-month subscription model, making costs more predictable as your organization grows.
• Implementation: Find out whether setup, staff training and ongoing support are included in the subscription or billed separately. Also ask about the implementation timeline—Phreesia can go live in as little as six weeks.
• Integration: Confirm whether connecting the software to your existing EHR and practice management systems involves additional fees. Phreesia offers deep integrations with more than 16 EHRs, along with HL7 connectivity to support data exchange across systems.
• Merchant processing: Compare the fees vendors charge to process patient payments, including credit cards and digital wallets. Phreesia offers competitive merchant processing rates and can often meet or beat what your organization currently pays.

Implementation timeline

How long it takes to get patient intake software up and running varies by organization. Some solutions can take several months to implement, but with Phreesia, organizations can go live in as little as six weeks. While every implementation looks a little different, the process typically involves four phases:

1. Planning and kickoff: Your vendor works with your team to understand your goals, current workflows and technical requirements. 
2. Setup and integration: Next comes configuring integrations, intake forms, workflows, payment options and other features to fit your needs. 
3. Testing and training: Before launch, your team tests the software to make sure everything works. Staff also receive training so they’re comfortable using the new system.
4. Go-live and optimization: Once the software is live, your vendor should help monitor performance and fine-tune workflows.

What’s changing in patient intake for 2027

Patient expectations are evolving, and so is the technology healthcare organizations use to meet them. As you evaluate patient intake software for 2027, three trends are worth keeping on your radar:

• AI-assisted workflows: AI helps healthcare organizations automate more administrative work around patient visits. Look for solutions that can take repetitive tasks off your staff’s plate while still keeping them in control of more complex patient needs.
• Mobile-first intake: More patients expect to handle healthcare tasks on their phones, just as they do everything else. In fact, a Phreesia survey found that 84% of patients would “definitely” or “probably” book appointments online if given the option. This can make scheduling more convenient and reduce front-desk workload.
• More flexible payment options: Patients increasingly expect clear information about what they owe and convenient ways to pay. Automated insurance verification, upfront cost estimates and payment options like digital wallets and payment plans can help organizations meet those expectations while improving collections.

Step three: Investing in the right solution

At this point, you likely have a list of patient intake solutions that could meet your needs. Now, it’s time to determine which one is right for your healthcare organization.

Review product demos

Most vendors will be happy to show you a demonstration of their software and integration. To get the most out of these demos, follow these quick tips:

• Share your key goals, desired outcomes and timeline with the vendor before you meet.
• Let the vendor know what you’d like them to cover before the demo starts.
• Invite your key stakeholders to the demos, including representatives from your front-desk and clinical teams, to ensure you consider your organization’s needs.
• Take notes and evaluate how the vendor performs against your main goals.
• Ask the vendor to walk you through the experience for both new and returning patients—as well as the experience for staff!—so you can see if the software is intuitive for all users.
• After the demo, debrief with your team and take notes on what worked for them (and what didn’t) so you can reference those details later.

Talk to references

Your peers are your most trustworthy source of information about intake solutions that might work for you. When engaging with vendors, ask them to share the names of one or two reference clients that are similar to your organization. Try to speak with organizations that are similar in specialty, size, PM/EHR or host system, challenges and goals, and prioritize conversations with clients who have been using the solution for at least six months. Ask your references:

• What is the true cost of the patient intake solution, including upkeep and maintenance?
• What quality of support do you receive from the vendor?
• What did solution training look like for your staff?
• What was the implementation process like?
• What metrics do you use to evaluate whether the software is truly helpful?
• How has the solution improved efficiency, saved staff time or otherwise helped you meet your goals?
• What might you have done differently in selecting/implementing this software?

Once you’ve completed your demos and reference calls, it’s time to put everything side by side. 

Conclusion

Your needs are unique to your organization, and the search for any patient intake software takes time and resources. But those efforts will pay off: Finding the right partner can transform your organization and help you create the modern, convenient experience that staff need and patients expect. Ready to see what digital intake could look like for you? Explore Phreesia’s patient intake solution and request a demo.