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OutSmart Guide

Adding SmartForms V2 To An Event Type

You can attach SmartForms V2 forms to an event type. Every patient who books that event then receives those forms automatically, in their booking confirmation email.

You set this up once for each event type. After that the forms go out on their own, whether the patient booked online themselves or your reception team booked them in.

How to attach forms to an event type

  1. Open the calendar by clicking the purple calendar icon in the top toolbar.
  2. Click the gear button at the top right of the calendar and choose Event Manager.
  3. Find the event type you want and click edit on its row. The Event Type Editor opens.
  4. Scroll down to the Booking Confirmation section.
  5. On the Include SmartForms row, set the switch to SmartForms V2.
  6. Choose your forms from the list underneath. You can attach more than one.
  7. Click Save.

Choosing between SmartForms and SmartForms V2

An event type can send SmartForms or SmartForms V2, but not both, in order to avoid confusing your patient. The switch on the Include SmartForms row is where you choose, and the list underneath shows only that version’s forms.

Which one to pick:

  • SmartForms V2 for forms you build yourself, and for any form you want patients to complete without creating an account.
  • SmartForms for forms built from the OutSmart clinical question library, and for forms already in use that you would rather not rebuild.

There is one difference worth knowing when you choose. With SmartForms, the Email Confirmation Message is required: if you leave it blank, the forms are not sent. With SmartForms V2, the forms are sent either way. It is still worth writing a confirmation message, because that is what the patient reads above the buttons for their forms.

When the forms are sent

Attached forms go out at two points:

  • When a patient books online. The forms are included in the booking confirmation email.
  • When you book the patient and click Save & Send. The patient receives the same forms in the same email. This works in the new calendar, the older calendar, and the waitlist card.

Clicking Save instead of Save & Send books the appointment without sending anything, including the forms.

Who the forms are sent for

Forms attached to an event type are sent for every practitioner who uses that event type, not only the person who set it up. One person configures the event type and it works for the whole team.

Two things follow from that:

  • The form shows the patient the practitioner they are actually booked with, not the person who attached the form. The patient sees the right name and photo.
  • That practitioner can read the answers, even when the form was built by a colleague. Nothing needs to be shared with them separately.

An event type sends one set of forms. If several practitioners use it, they all send the same set.

If a form can no longer be sent

If a form you attached is later archived, or a colleague stops sharing it with you, the event type keeps showing the form with a note explaining why it cannot be sent. That form is skipped when the confirmation goes out, and the other forms on the event type are sent as normal.

The form is never removed from your setup without telling you. Replace it with another when you are ready.

Common questions

Why did my patient get one email with several forms instead of one each?

The booking confirmation includes a button for every form the patient needs, in a single email. A patient booking an event with four forms attached gets one email with four buttons.

The Send form button you use to send a single form by hand is different. That one sends its own email, because it is only ever one form.

My patient says they did not get a form. Where do I look?

Check these in order:

  1. Does the patient have an email address on their record? Without one, nothing is sent.
  2. Does the event type have forms attached, with the switch set to the version you expect?
  3. Was a confirmation sent? If the appointment was booked with Save rather than Save & Send, no confirmation went out, so no forms did either.
  4. Check their spam folder, then resend the form from the patient’s Smart Forms tab.

Can a patient fill out a form without a patient portal account?

Yes. SmartForms V2 sends the patient their own link, which opens the form directly. No account, no password, no portal login.

Does attaching SmartForms V2 mean patients have to create an account to book?

No. Patients book exactly as they do now.

This is different from SmartForms, which does require an account, because those forms are completed inside the patient portal. If your booking page currently asks patients to create an account because of attached forms, moving that event type to SmartForms V2 removes that requirement.

How long does a patient have to complete a form?

There are two time limits. The patient has 60 days to open the link, and once they open it, 90 days to finish and submit. See Expiries And Link Timing for what the patient sees as a deadline approaches, and how to give someone more time.

A patient already had this form outstanding. Why were they not sent it again?

Because they still have the first one. If a patient has an unfinished copy of the same form that has not expired, booking another appointment does not send a second copy. Their original link still works, along with anything they have already typed into it.

If they finished the form, or their copy expired, the next booking sends a fresh one.

I set up the event type. Will forms still go out when a colleague sees the patient?

Yes. The forms are sent for whoever is booked, so every practitioner using that event type sends them.

I stopped sharing a form with a colleague. Can they still see answers already submitted?

Yes. Removing sharing stops the form being sent in future. It does not hide answers that have already been collected. A practitioner keeps access to what their own patient submitted, because those are clinical records they may be relying on.

I archived a form that is attached to an event type. What happens?

New sends stop. Forms already with patients are unaffected, and submissions already collected stay where they are. The event type shows the archived form with a note explaining why it is not going out.

Can one event type send both SmartForms and SmartForms V2?

No. One or the other. See Choosing between SmartForms and SmartForms V2 above.