Thoughts on setting clinic policies and writing forms

When you open your clinic, you will be the one to decide on your clinic policies and write your policy documents. This topic often gets overlooked when starting out, and forms often get quickly thrown together so that you can get started seeing patients. Instead, I encourage you to really think about your policies and carefully write your forms. Let's talk about why!

In this entry:

• What are clinic policies?
  • A surface definition, with examples of important policies
  • A deeper perspective of policies as a way of communicating with your patients
• Why are good forms important?
• Tips for writing your forms
• A quick case study
• Future policy deep dives

What are clinic policies?

Let's start with the more obvious, surface definition: your clinic policies are your clinic's rules, expectations, and penalties. These can include:

• Financial policies: explain what forms of payment you accept, how long people have to pay their balance, cancellation policy, no-show policy, insurance policies, inclement weather policies, fee schedule for cancellations and no-shows, etc.
• Informed consent: this describes your scope of practice, your forms of treatment, expectations for disclosure from your patient (such as medical history), policies for termination of care, etc.
• HIPAA/Privacy policies: describe how you safeguard your patients' information and their rights to their medical information. You may or may not be required to follow HIPAA, but you are responsible for keeping your patient's information private.
• State-specific policies: Some states mandate a form that you need to have patients sign.

Policies are a form of protection for you and your business, and written policies that patients sign are your policy forms. These forms are a legal agreement between you and your patients (which is something we often forget!) and serve as a way to protect you, your business, and your patients in the event something goes wrong. Following state-specific requirements protects your license, too. On the other hand, Privacy Policies and Informed Consent forms protect your patients, their safety, and their medical information.

Why are good forms important?

A well-written policy form does several things, some less obvious than others:

• It establishes what your policies are. (Obviously.) However, being clear gives people an idea of what they can expect when they visit your space, which can help build trust and reduce anxiety. It also can be more comfortable for people to know what to expect, especially if they are new to the modality.
• It communicates professionalism. A well-written form, free of grammatical errors and typos and formatted well, is essential. Sloppy forms make you look sloppy. If this is an area you struggle with, consider using a service like Grammarly (referral link, but I have used it for over 2 years) in your writing, or hire someone to write or proofread your forms.
• It protects you in the event of policy violations and/or liabilities. There will inevitably be moments when someone will not follow a policy. Having clear policies protects you -legally! - if you need to enforce your policy.
• It helps set boundaries and gives you a firm foundation for enforcing them. As practitioners, we are responsible for setting expectations for our interactions with patients while they are receiving care from us. When you're unsure what to do in a situation, you can look to your policy for the answer.

I also view my forms as a way to communicate with my patients before they step into my clinic. How your forms are written, formatted, and presented communicates about your practice and, more importantly, you, for better or worse. It also sets boundaries and expectations for how the relationship will progress.

• Your forms set the stage for your first interaction, and it can help patients feel heard before walking in the door. And, if you ask for adequate information on the intake form, you can go into the first appointment with an idea of what you'd like to talk about.