Registering a patient with signed consent
How the Healthcare pack registers a new patient: a form sent ahead, medical aid details captured, and consent signed by the patient, parent or guardian.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Healthcare businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Launching soon. The Industry CRM add-on described in this article is launching soon. This article describes it as it will work at launch.
The clipboard at reception has done its job for decades. A new patient arrives ten minutes early, fills in four pages by hand, signs at the bottom and hands it back. Someone then types it all in, squinting at the handwriting, and files the paper. When a question comes up months later about what the patient agreed to, the answer is in a box somewhere.
Registration does not need to work that way. With the Healthcare & clinics pack in Achekam's Industry CRM, the form goes to the patient before the first visit, the consent is signed on their own phone or computer, and the signed copy files itself. This article walks through each step and the decisions the practice still has to make.
From enquiry to patient file
Most new patients start as an enquiry: a call, a web form, a referral. When reception converts that enquiry, Achekam creates the patient and their Patient file at the same moment and starts the intake workflow. There is no second round of typing the same name into another screen.
The workflow then does four things in order: it sends the registration form, captures the medical aid and account details, has consent and the practice's terms signed electronically, and books the first visit. Each step becomes a task for the front desk, so nothing depends on someone remembering.
The registration form goes out as a request
The registration form is sent to the patient as a request. The patient completes it in their own time, and their answer moves the task on. Reception sees which patients have responded and which still need a nudge, instead of discovering a blank form at the counter.
Sending the form a day or two ahead also changes the first visit. The patient arrives already registered, and the ten minutes on the clipboard become ten minutes the practitioner can use.
Medical aid and account details
The form captures the patient's medical aid details and who is responsible for the account. That matters for billing: a working adult may be the main member on their own cover, while a student or a child is on a parent's.
Capturing the details is not the same as checking them. In the Healthcare pack, a person confirms that the membership is valid. Nothing in the pack connects to a medical scheme or insurer, and nothing sends a claim. Keep your existing route for eligibility checks and claims, and agree who on the team does the check before the first visit. Where a patient's cover cannot be confirmed in time, tell them before they arrive that the visit may be billed to them directly, so nobody is surprised at the desk.
Consent and practice terms, signed electronically
Next, the patient signs the practice's consent and its terms, such as the cancellation policy and payment terms. Signing uses Achekam's e-signing: signature and initials fields are placed on the document, signers can be asked to sign in order or all at once, the request has an expiry and sends reminders, and once everyone has signed, the signed PDF and a completion certificate are filed back into Documents.
Three points to settle first:
- Review the wording. Every agreement in the pack is starter wording that the practice must review before use. Have your own adviser look at your consent form and terms, because the rules on consent and patient information differ between practices and countries. In Nigeria, for example, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission's FAQs explain what the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 covers, whom it applies to and how it treats consent.
- Decide what must be signed in ink. If the practice marks a document to be signed in ink, it is never offered for electronic signing. Its step simply tracks that the paper copy came back.
- Nigeria and Kenya. The completion certificate currently describes the signatures under South Africa's Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, whatever the practice's country. Ask your adviser whether that matters for your documents.
When the patient is a minor
A young child's registration is normally signed by an adult, and the pack allows for that: consent and terms are signed by the patient, a parent or a guardian.
In practice, reception should be careful about three things. First, send the signing request to the parent or guardian's own e-mail address, not the child's. Second, check that the person signing is the one on the registration form as responsible for the child. Third, where parents share responsibility, agree in advance whether one signature is enough for your practice or whether you want both. Those are practice decisions, not system settings, so write them down.
Booking the first visit
The last step books the first visit. From here, the appointment has its own workflow for confirmation, attendance and payment, covered in from booking confirmation to attended visit.
A practical checklist for go-live:
- Have the consent form and practice terms reviewed by your adviser.
- Mark any document that must still be signed in ink.
- Name the person who checks medical aid membership.
- Agree the rule for signing on behalf of children.
- Send the registration request to two staff members as a test and complete it as a patient would.
- Explain to reception what belongs on the patient file and what stays in the clinical record, as set out in what the Healthcare pack keeps.
Making the switch
Start with new patients only. Existing patients can be asked to sign the updated consent when they next come in, whether for a routine visit or after a recall invitation. Within a few months, most active files will hold a signed, filed consent, and the clipboard can go back in the drawer.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
