New Patient Intake

Tell New Podiatry Patients What to Bring Before They Arrive

A foot exam stalls without the shoes the patient actually wears. Give every new caller your prep list and capture intake before they reach the window.

By MedReception AI, physician-built by Paul Toomey, MDPublished Nov 11, 2026

Reads your prep instructions on the booking call, which in podiatry is not boilerplate: the shoes worn most days, work boots, athletic shoes for a running complaint, and the pair the patient blames for the problem
Asks for current inserts, whether over-the-counter or custom, plus who supplied them and roughly when, so the provider is comparing against something rather than starting from a description
Passes on your own instruction about nail polish before a nail assessment, a detail patients almost never anticipate and staff repeat a dozen times a day
Captures where prior imaging and records live, the urgent care visit, the orthopaedic consultation, the emergency department film, so release requests start before the appointment rather than in the exam room
Records the systemic context your scheduler needs, including who manages the patient's diabetes and whether vascular studies have been done, because those names matter later for co-management and for footwear documentation
Delivers structured demographics, insurance details, referral source and the reason for the visit, so intake is not rebuilt on a clipboard at the window

How it pays back

The Visit That Cannot Happen Properly Without the Shoes

Almost no other specialty depends on the patient physically bringing the thing that caused the problem. A gait and wear-pattern assessment on the shoes a patient wears every day is not reproducible from the sandals they wore to the clinic. Getting that instruction delivered reliably is worth more than any script polish.

Prep Told Once, the Same Way, Every Time

Prep instructions decay. A busy front desk gives the full version in the morning and an abbreviated one at four. The system gives every new patient the same list your practice wrote, in the language the caller prefers, among the 59 it speaks, and it does not shorten the list because the lobby is full.

Records Requested Before, Not During

Chasing an outside film while the patient sits in the chair costs the slot and often the diagnosis. Capturing the source of prior imaging and records at booking gives your staff days of lead time, and turns "we will have to get that" into a request already sitting in someone's queue.

New Patients Booked Outside Office Hours

New podiatry patients frequently search and call in the evening, after a day of walking on it. Every line is answered at once, so the enquiry becomes a booked appointment with completed prep rather than a voicemail competing with three other practices the caller also rang.

59 languages

Prep instructions delivered in the caller's language without a third-party interpreter line

Unlimited concurrent calls

An evening rush of new-patient enquiries is answered simultaneously, not queued

AES-256 at rest

Demographics, insurance and intake detail encrypted at rest and with TLS in transit

Frequently asked questions

Does it give patients advice about footwear?

No. It relays the preparation instructions your practice wrote and nothing beyond them. Questions about what shoes a patient should be wearing, whether an insert is helping, or whether a symptom needs attention sooner are captured and routed to your clinical staff.

What if the patient cannot bring their shoes?

The appointment is still booked and the limitation is noted, so the provider knows before walking in. The point of the question is not to gate access, it is to make sure staff are not discovering the gap at the start of a fifteen-minute slot.

How do intake forms reach the patient?

Through the delivery path you configure, commonly a link sent by text or email after the call. Structured intake captured on the call itself can be delivered into your system through API or FHIR where supported, or through secure workflow automation.

Does it verify the patient's insurance?

It captures the payer, plan and identifier accurately and routes them to whoever verifies benefits in your practice. It does not tell the patient what is covered, what a visit will cost beyond your published prices, or whether their plan is accepted unless that is a fact you configured.

Can it tell whether a caller should be a new-patient evaluation or something shorter?

It books the visit type your rules assign to what the caller describes. It does not assess the complaint. Ambiguous cases follow the default your practice sets, which is usually the longer appointment, with the detail captured so staff can adjust.

Where does the captured intake end up?

In the destination you choose, whether that is an EMR appointment and note, a task queue, or a structured summary your staff files. Integration depth is confirmed with your practice during setup rather than promised in advance.