AI Pre-visit Intake

Feature Overview

Our AI Pre-visit Intake feature makes it simple to gather essential medical information directly from patients—no more juggling forms or repetitive admin tasks. Build your questionnaire once, and let AI handle the rest. 

Why We Built This

Collecting relevant patient information prior to a visit is essential across many medical specialties. Traditionally, this process involves paper or PDF forms that patients are asked to complete before their appointment. However, this approach often increases administrative burden for staff and is prone to errors due to incomplete fields or poor handwriting. Additionally, these forms do not provide a structured summary that can be easily incorporated into the final clinical note.

To address these challenges, we developed the AI Pre-visit Intake feature. This tool leverages AI to engage patients in a natural, conversational format, guiding them through your existing intake form requirements. We also have additional features, like the ability to type in a reply, upload documents or pictures and even pause the intake & resume at your convenience. 

Patients can complete the intake on their phone or computer—whether from home or in the clinic—prior to their appointment. A summary of the questionnaire appears as a draft in your Empathia account, for you to review before the visit.

How it Works

1. Start by creating your own questionnaire from the Templates tab in the side menu. Go to "Create a Template" and upload your existing intake form.

2.  After selecting the note type as "Questionnaire", click on "Upload to Generate Template". 

3. You can then review the content of the Questionnaire to ensure it's accuracy. 

4. You can directly edit the questions if needed, by typing in the "Form Content" section. At the very end of every questionnaire, you will see a question, that asks the patient to upload any relevant documents 

5. Once you have confirmed the content of the questionnaire, you can send the questionnaire to your patients directly as a link, a message or an email. Start by clicking on the AI Pre-visit button on your home page. 

6. A pop up window appears that allows you to select the Intake Questionnaire (if you have several), add the patient name & send an email, link or QR code. 

7. Once the patient launches the questionnaire from the link, they can even select a different language to complete the intake. 

8. The patient will be able to read the questions while it is being posed by EMMA. The patient can click on the "Talk to EMMA" button to capture their response verbally or simple "Yes" & "No" buttons, depending on the question. EMMA will ask clarifying follow up questions as necessary, while adhering to the overall questionnaire content. 

9. The patient can also type in their responses if they choose to by clicking on the keyboard icon at the bottom left of the screen & easily switch back to the voice mode by clicking on the mic button. 

9. The patient will have the option to Pause the questionnaire at any time. Their progress will be saved and they can return to it at any time by using the original link. 

10. The patient can also upload any relevant documents or images for the physician to review prior to the appointment. 

11. Once the questionnaire is complete, a summary of the intake will appear as a Draft in the encounter list. A "Pre-visit Intake" note tab will appear in the Encounter.  You can easily review the summary & uploaded documents prior to the visit. 

12. Use the Chrome extension to create a Supplementary recording during the actual patient visit. 

13. Once the recording is completed, it will generate a final SOAP note, which will include information from the pre-visit intake.

Best Practices & Tips

1. Ensure to select the note type as Questionnaire while creating your intake template. 

2. Educate the patient that similar to the scribe function, EMMA only gathers clinical information - all clinical decision making is done by the physician only. 

Advanced Use Cases 

1. Post visit follow ups & patient satisfaction surveys - EMMA intake questionnaires can be customized to conduct post op follow ups, scheduled check ins or even patient satisfaction surveys. 

FAQs and Troubleshooting

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Can images be a part of the questionnaire? 

The current version does not support images, as part of the questionnaire. Images can be uploaded by the patient as part of the responses provided.

2. Can I review the exact responses provided by the patient?

Yes, the entire Q&A sequence will be available under the "Uploaded Patient History" tab in the same encounter.

3. Can I review the uploaded documents?
Yes, the images & documents uploaded by the patient will be available for review in the uploaded patient history tab.