Forms & Consent
Digital intake forms, versioned consent collection, and legally immutable signatures.
How Forms Work
Clinics design their own forms from a reusable field library — text inputs, selects, dates, numbers, checkboxes, signatures, and more. Each field is defined once and reused across multiple forms.
The lifecycle of a form
- Admin designs a form template — selects fields from the library, arranges them, marks some as private (visible to specialists only)
- Patient books an appointment — the required forms are generated automatically based on the service and calendar configuration
- Patient fills the form — existing profile data auto-fills where available (name, date of birth, allergies). New answers update the patient's profile for next time.
- Patient signs — once signed, the form becomes legally immutable. No changes can be made by anyone — not the patient, not the specialist, not the admin. The system rejects any modification attempts.
- PDF generated — a professional PDF is created automatically from the signed form, using the clinic's branding. Private fields are hidden from the patient-facing copy.
How signing works
The platform supports two signature methods:
- Drawn signature — the patient draws their signature with a finger (on phone) or stylus (on tablet). The signature is captured as an image and embedded in the signed form and generated PDF. This is the primary method and the most legally robust.
- Checkbox confirmation — for lower-stakes acknowledgements (e.g., marketing opt-in, session feedback), a simple checkbox with "I agree" is sufficient. Not used for clinical consent forms.
Each form template defines which signature method is required — clinical consent forms always require a drawn signature.
In-clinic signing
In physical clinics, staff can hand a tablet to the patient to sign forms directly. The Patient Portal works on any device with a browser — the patient opens the form on the clinic's tablet, draws their signature with a finger or stylus, and the signed form is immediately recorded. No paper, no scanning, no separate app. The same form and signature flow works whether the patient is at home on their phone or in the clinic on a shared tablet.
Auto-fill
When a patient has filled forms before, the platform remembers their answers. The next form they encounter pre-fills with their existing data — reducing friction and ensuring consistency. If the patient updates an answer, their profile is updated too, so future forms always have the latest information.
Consent Management
Consent forms are a special type of form that create a timestamped legal record when signed:
- Who signed (patient identity)
- When they signed (exact timestamp)
- Where they signed from (IP address)
- What they agreed to (exact policy version)
Two tiers of consent
The platform separates consents into two tiers, deliberately presented in different places:
Tier A — SaaS-style consents. Platform terms, platform privacy notice, marketing email/SMS, analytics, AI processing. Collected at sign-up; the toggleable ones (marketing, analytics, AI) live in patient settings and can be flipped at any time. No signature needed for the toggleable ones.
Tier B — form-driven medical consents. Clinic privacy notice, clinic terms, telemedicine informed consent, profile sharing, video recording, biometric capture, treatment-specific consents. Signed on the clinic's signed forms — always against the clinic's text, never against a generic platform notice. Required before the corresponding feature works (recording does not start without recording consent, biometric tools are disabled without biometric consent).
| Consent | Tier | Where it appears | Blocking? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform terms / privacy notice | A | Sign-up | Yes |
| Marketing email / SMS, analytics, AI processing | A | Sign-up checkboxes or settings | No — toggle |
| Clinic privacy notice / terms | B | Onboarding at the clinic | Yes |
| Profile sharing | B | Onboarding at the clinic | Yes — clinic sees only name until signed |
| Telemedicine informed consent | B | Before a video appointment | Yes |
| Video recording | B | Before a recorded appointment | Yes |
| Biometric capture | B | Before camera-based measurements | Yes |
| Treatment-specific consents | B | Before the relevant treatment | Yes |
Three signature modes for Tier B consents
Tier B consents support three signature modes, depending on where the patient is:
- In-portal click — patient signs from their phone or laptop; used for telemedicine consents and most pre-appointment consent steps.
- Drawn on tablet at the clinic — patient is at the front desk; receptionist hands them a tablet; patient draws their signature with a finger or stylus and the form is saved immediately. No paper, no scanning.
- Sent to phone via link — agent generates a one-time link during a phone booking, sends it to the patient's phone, and the patient completes the consent on their own device. Used when older patients call in.
In every mode, the platform records the same proof: who signed, when, from which IP address, on which device, and against which exact version of the form text.
Consent is per-clinic
Tier B consent given at Clinic A does not carry over to Clinic B. Each clinic presents its own consent forms under its own branding and privacy notice. The patient must consent independently at each clinic.
For the full consent and privacy model — including how clinics publish their privacy notices, how withdrawal works, and the audited break-glass exception path — see How Patient Data Is Protected.
Versioned Fields
Fields in the library are versioned. When a clinic updates a field definition (for example, adding a new option to a dropdown), the change is published as a new version.
- Old forms keep the original version — answers are never reinterpreted retroactively
- New forms use the latest version — patients see updated options going forward
- Historical accuracy is preserved — a form signed six months ago shows exactly the options that existed when it was filled, not today's options
This is critical for legal and compliance purposes. A signed consent form must reflect exactly what the patient agreed to at the time of signing.
Private Fields
Clinic admins can mark specific fields as private. Private fields:
- Are visible to the specialist during the consultation
- Are hidden from the patient-facing PDF copy
- Allow specialists to record internal clinical notes within the same form flow
This means the specialist doesn't need a separate system for internal notes — everything is captured in one place, with automatic visibility control.
For developers
Technical details — database schemas, API endpoints, field versioning mechanics, auto-fill implementation, and form lifecycle state machine — are available in the Forms feature spec and Custom Fields feature spec.