OutSmart EMR Knowledgebase

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Sending SmartForm Questionnaires To Your Patients

Smartforms can be sent to and/or filled out by clients in 5 different ways.  They can be sent via a link in an e-mail; they can be attached directly to a specific Patient Portal account; they can be added to your website; they can be attached to a specific event in your calendar, so that they are automatically sent to the patient when a booking is made; or finally, they can be filled out in clinic on a tablet.

Sending SmartForms By E-Mail

OutSmart provides a link called a Guest Link for every SmartForm.  The Guest Link allows patients to log in or create an account, and fill out the SmartForm Questionnaire, all on the same page.  To send a SmartForm by e-mail, you simply need to e-mail the SmartForm link to your patient.

  1. Go to the SmartForms page using the Main Navigation Menu.
  2. Find the SmartForm that you want to send to your patient, and copy the Guest Link that is displayed for that form.
  3. Send an e-mail to the patient with that link included.  When the patient clicks on that link, they will be directed to the form.
Guest link for a SmartForm

Guest link for a SmartForm. Ensure you are logged out of your practitioner account if you are testing a Guest Link.

Testing The Guest Link

If you want to test the Guest Link, be sure to log our of your SmartND account first. If you are logged in as a Practitioner or Admin and then try to use the guest link, it will simply redirect you to your SmartForms Page.

How does OutSmart link the submitted guest form with a Patient Record?

When you send a guest link to one of your patients, they will need to create a Patient Portal account and then identify themselves with a first name, last name, and date of birth.  We use these three pieces of information to match them to a patient record in your clinic.  If we cannot find a match, a new patient record is created in your OutSmart account.

Sending SmartForms To A Patient Portal

There may be occasions where you want to send a specific SmartForm to a specific patient, and you want to provide additional options to that patient.  You can then send the SmartForm to a Patient Portal account instead of allowing the Guest Link.  The benefit of doing this is that it will offer some additional options for the SmartForm, such as repeating the SmartForm submission multiple times, or authorizing other patients to fill out the SmartForm on behalf of the patient:

  1. Go to the SmartForms page using the Main Navigation Menu.
  2. Find the SmartForm that you want to send to your patient, and click on the  Send SmartForm To Patient button in the Actions Column for that SmartForm.  This will open the Send SmartForm Dialog Box.

    Send SmartForm to patient button.

    Send SmartForm to patient button.

  3. Start by selecting the patient that you want to send the form to.  You will not be able to send the form to any patient who does not have an e-mail address.  If the patient you want to select does not have an e-mail address specified, then you will need to go to the Patient Workspace and update the email address for the patient, and then return to SmartForms to send them the form.
  4. Once you have selected the patient in the Send SmartForm Dialog Box, the next option is to specify if you want to allow the patient to submit the SmartForm multiple times.  This is useful for questionnaires such as diet journals, daily measurements, etc.
  5. Next, you can specify if you want to authorize other patients to fill out this form on behalf of the Subject Patient. (The Subject Patient is the patient whose information you are collecting through the form).
  6. The last option in the Send SmartForm Dialog Box is to decide whether or not you want to send an e-mail confirmation of the form assignment, or to simply assign the form but not send any e-mail message.  To send an e-mail, select the Authorize & Send Email or Reminder option.  To simply assign the form without an e-mail notification, select the Authorize Only option.
  7. After you have set all the options above, click on the green Send button to assign the form and return to the SmartForms page, or click on the Assign & Open button to assign the form and immediately open it to be filled out.  The Assign and Open function is helpful if you are in session with a patient and want to fill out the SmartForm with them.
Send SmartForm Dialog Box

Send SmartForm Dialog Box

To display a link to your SmartForm on your website, simply create a button on your website called “Fill Intake Form”, and have the button link to the Guest Link for that form.  Use a more descriptive label for the button if you have more than one form.  For example, “Fill Adult Intake form” or “Fill Fertility Form”.  The Guest link is available on the main SmartForms page:

  1. Go to the SmartForms page using the Main Navigation Menu.
  2. Find the SmartForm that you want to send to your patient, and copy the Guest Link that is displayed for that form.
  3. Send this link to your web designer, or attach that link to a button on your website.
Guest link for a SmartForm

Guest link for a SmartForm. Ensure you are logged out of your practitioner account if you are testing a Guest Link.

Attaching SmartForms To A Specific Event Type

Attaching a SmartForm to one of your events is probably the easiest way to disseminate your SmartForms.  They will be sent automatically every time the system sends a Confirmation Email for an appointment booking.  Appointment Confirmation E-mails are sent automatically whenever a patient books online, or manually when you book a patient directly into the calendar.

To attach a SmartForm Questionnaire to an Event Typesee this article on the Event Manager.  It will detail not only how to create an Event Type, but also how to manage the properties of that Event Type, including how to add SmartForm Questionnaires to it.

Attaching a SmartForm to an Event Type will ensure that the SmartForm is sent out to all patients who book that type of event.

Attaching a SmartForm to an Event Type will ensure that the SmartForm is sent out to all patients who book that type of event.

Provide A Tablet For Your Patient To Fill Out The SmartForm At Your Clinic

In some cases, you may want to provide a tablet to the patient when they are at the clinic so that they can fill out the SmartForm in the waiting room.  In this situation, you have to first set up the SmartForm on your website.  See the section above on Displaying A SmartForm Link On Your Website.  Once the SmartForms have been added to your website, you will simply load up your website on the tablet, click on the link and provide the tablet to the patient.

When the patient completes and submits the questionnaire, ensure that you take back the tablet and log out of the patient’s account before providing the tablet to the next patient.  For the best experience, please ensure that your tablet is using the Google Chrome browser to access the SmartForm.

Simplifying the process for your patients

There are 2 ways that make the process a lot easier:

  1. Use our Online Booking system:  When a client books online, they can immediately be assigned their intake forms, and are immediately directed to their patient portal to fill them out.  No Access Codes are ever required to fill out the forms or submit them.
  2. Provide clients a Guest Link: Using the Guest Link for your SmarForms will allow clients to gain access to their SmartForm intake forms right from YOUR website, or custom e-mail (if you are using a booking system other than OutSmart).  This method as well never requires any Access Codes to be entered.

Both of the above methods are a quick way to get clients to fill out their forms easily from any laptop, desktop, or tablet device.  At this time, mobile phones are not able to easily access SmartForms because of the size of the questionnaires.  However we are working on a phone-friendly version.