An intake form is the first thing a new client does with your practice and the last thing anybody reviews. Most are long because every clinician who ever worked there added a question, and the cost of that lands entirely on the client who has not started yet. This page is the form, field by field, and the arithmetic. On the worked example a 34-field form takes about seven minutes, and 22% of new clients never send it back, which is four first sessions and $475 a month.
The fields the first session genuinely needs
Name, contact details, date of birth, who to contact in an emergency, the presenting problem in the client's own words, relevant history, current medication, consent and how they heard of you. That is roughly a dozen fields, and it is enough to start safely. The rest can be asked in the room by somebody who is already listening.
Required is a decision, not a default
22 required fields of 34 is a 64% required share, and every required box is a place somebody stops. Mark required only what you cannot start without; on a phone screen at nine in the evening, an optional question is answered by people who feel like it and skipped by people who do not, which is the correct outcome.
What the long form costs
Four new clients a month lost at a $120 first session is $5,702 a year, or about $167 a year per field on the form. That is the number to put beside the next request to add a question, and it is usually the first time anybody in the practice has seen it.
Questions people ask about intake forms
Should the form be sent before or at the first session?
Before, as a link. A form filled in the waiting room is a form filled in a hurry, and one emailed as a PDF attachment is the version with the highest drop-off.
Do we need a separate consent form?
Consent needs to be recorded with its date and what it covered. Whether that is a separate document or a section of the intake is a practice decision.
What about children and third parties?
A second short form for the person with parental responsibility, and a record of who consented to what. Keep it separate from the client's own answers.