Healthcare · Intake questions
New patient phone intake questions, in the order to ask them
New patient phone intake questions should be few, asked in the same order, and each should have a job. Here are the nine, why each matters, where each answer goes, and what never to ask on a recorded line.
Last updated November 2, 2026
Never on a recorded call
No Social Security numbers. No health card numbers. No full card or bank numbers. No detailed medical history.
The safety rules in every 365vox agent forbid asking for government ID numbers and full card numbers. The table further down explains each one, and what to do instead.
Questions to ask new patients over the phone, and why so few
A new patient call has one job: turn a caller into a booked visit, with every detail your front desk needs before it, so nobody calls back for missing details. That takes a short list: who the patient is, how to reach them, why they’re coming, who pays and when they can come. History, consent forms and the insurance card copy belong to your intake forms and the visit.
Intake is the most time-consuming phone task for 9% of practices, behind eligibility and prior authorization (45%) and scheduling (31%), in an MGMA Stat poll of March 2026. A fixed list in a fixed order keeps that time short, whether an AI virtual receptionist or a person at your front desk asks it.
The test for every question: if the answer doesn’t change what your front desk does before the visit, move it to your form.
The new patient phone intake questions, one by one
Ask them in this order. Each answer lands in its own field in the call record, ready for the front desk.
Have you been seen here before, by any of our providers?
Why: new and established patients often get different visit types and paperwork. For Medicare billing, CMS defines a new patient as one with no professional services from the physician or group practice, in the same specialty, in the previous three years. Callers don’t know that rule, so ask the plain question. What happens: the answer gets its own field, and your front desk checks the chart.
Who is the appointment for, and what is their full name?
Why: parents, adult children and caregivers often call for someone else. Names spelled right prevent a duplicate chart. What happens: name is a default question with Confirm on, so the agent repeats it back. Add one for the caller’s own name and relationship.
What is the patient’s date of birth?
Why: two patients can share a name, and a date of birth is a common second identifier. Ask it only if your verification policy uses it. What happens: it gets its own field, used to find an existing chart or start a new one.
What’s the best number to reach you, and may we leave a message there?
Why: your team may need to reach the patient before the visit. HHS says practices may leave messages but should limit what an answering machine message says, and must accommodate reasonable requests for confidential communications (HHS FAQ 198). What happens: the answer about messages gets its own field. See leaving a voicemail.
In a few words, what is the visit for?
Why: the reason picks the visit type and length: a physical, a new problem, a hospital follow-up. What happens: the agent records the caller’s words and asks nothing more about symptoms. Every agent is set up to tell a caller who describes a life-threatening emergency to hang up and call 911. It can’t call 911 or send help itself, and like any AI it can mishear.
Did someone refer you, and does your plan need a referral?
Why: in many HMOs, patients need a referral from their primary care doctor before care from anyone else, and the plan may not pay without one (HealthCare.gov). What happens: the referring office goes into the record. Your front desk decides whether a referral is needed.
What health plan do you have, and what is the member ID on the card?
Why: your team verifies eligibility before the visit. What happens: for a private plan, the agent takes the plan name, the member ID and the subscriber’s name if it isn’t the patient. For Medicare, Medicaid or another government program, it takes the program and plan name only: the safety rules forbid asking for government ID numbers. It never says a visit is covered.
Do you have a preferred provider, and which days and times suit you?
Why: the agent offers times that fit, so nobody calls back to agree on one. What happens: It books the appointment in your connected calendar during the call and confirms it with the caller. It offers only times your connected calendar shows as open.
Is there anything that would make the visit easier for you?
Why: an open question invites what matters without asking about a disability: a ground-floor room, an interpreter, a quiet room. What happens: the front desk can prepare.
The patient intake phone script: copy all into step 3
Name, phone and email are already in step 3, Questions to ask. Paste each line below and press Add: that makes 17 of the 20 allowed.
Step 3 is asked of every caller. If the same agent answers existing patients, give new patients their own agent and number. Or paste the list into step 9 under When a new patient calls, ask:
.
Copy all into step 3
Have you been seen here before, by any of our providers? Who is the appointment for? If you're calling for someone else, what is your name and relationship to them? What is the patient's date of birth? Is it all right to leave a message at the number you gave? In a few words, what is the visit for? Did a doctor or another office refer you to us? Does your health plan need a referral for this visit? What is the name of your health plan? If it's a private plan, what is the member ID on the card? Is the plan in the patient's name, or someone else's? Do you have a preferred provider? Which days and times suit you best? Is there anything that would make the visit easier for you?
Starting point only: review the list with your practice manager and your privacy officer. Remove any question your front desk doesn’t use.
A medical office new patient call script, heard as a call
A new patient on an HMO calls in the evening. The agent asks the questions in order, answers “do you take my plan?” from the practice’s list without saying the visit is covered, and books the visit.
- AI receptionistThanks for calling Riverside Internal Medicine. I’m an AI assistant. This call is recorded and transcribed so we can handle your request. How can I help you today?
- CallerHi. Are you taking new patients? I just moved here.
- AI receptionistYes. Dr. Chen and Dr. Okafor are taking new patients, and I can book your first visit. Have you been seen here before, by any of our providers?
- CallerNo, never.
- AI receptionistCan I get your full name and date of birth?
- CallerDaniel Reyes, August 2, 1979.
- AI receptionistWhat’s the best number to reach you, and may we leave a message there?
- Caller512-555-0163. Yes, it’s my cell.
- AI receptionistIn a few words, what is the visit for?
- CallerA checkup. And I need a new doctor for my blood pressure.
- AI receptionistDid another office refer you to us?
- CallerNo. My plan is a Northway Health HMO. Do you take it?
- AI receptionistNorthway Health is on the practice’s list of accepted plans. The front desk checks your coverage before the visit. What is the member ID on your card?
- CallerNW4419072.
- AI receptionistWhich days and times suit you best?
- CallerWeekday mornings, before ten.
- AI receptionistDr. Chen has Thursday at 8:40 or Monday at 9:20. Which would you like?
- CallerThursday at 8:40.
- AI receptionistIs there anything that would make the visit easier for you?
- CallerA ground-floor room would help. I use a cane.
- AI receptionistNoted. You’re booked for Thursday at 8:40 with Dr. Chen. Please bring your insurance card and your medications. Anything else?
Never ask on the phone, and why
Eight things that don’t belong on a recorded intake call. The first six are covered by rules built into every 365vox agent, which can’t be turned off.
| Never ask for | Why not on a call | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| A Social Security number | A government ID number, which the safety rules forbid asking for. CMS removed it from Medicare cards to help combat identity theft. | If billing needs it, collect it on your secure intake form or at the desk. |
| A health card number (Canada) | Also a government ID number. Some Ontario guidance suggests one to confirm identity (AFHTO, 2016), but the agent can’t ask for it. | Take it at the first visit. On the phone, use other identifiers, such as the last visit date. |
| A Medicare or Medicaid number | Issued by a government program, so it falls under the same rule. | Take the program and plan name on the call, and the number at check-in. |
| A driver’s license or passport number | Government ID numbers, and not needed to book a visit. | Ask patients to bring photo ID if your policy requires it. |
| A full card or bank number | The built-in rule against taking card or banking details stays on. Card numbers on a recorded call are a security risk. | Your usual payment system. The agent can explain how to pay, from your rules. |
| A password or patient portal login | The safety rules forbid asking for passwords. | Your patient portal’s own reset process. |
| A detailed medical history | More than booking a visit needs, on a recorded and transcribed call. | Your intake form, your patient portal or the visit itself. |
| A full medication list or past diagnoses | Drug names spoken aloud are easy to mishear, and the list is for clinicians. | Ask patients to bring their medications, or a list, to the visit. |
General information, not legal or clinical advice. Rules differ by state and province and change over time, so check yours. A caller may still volunteer something; the agent doesn’t ask for it.
Minimum necessary, applied to a phone call
The fewer questions a call asks, the less sensitive information sits in a recording.
HIPAA’s minimum necessary standard asks covered entities to take reasonable steps to limit uses, disclosures and requests of protected health information to the minimum needed for the purpose (HHS). It has exceptions, such as requests by a health care provider for treatment. Even where it doesn’t apply, it’s a useful test for a phone script.
On a 365vox health agent, every call is recorded, transcribed and summarized in your portal. Recordings are kept for the number of days you choose in Settings: 7, 14 or 30. For a health agent, the transcript and summary are deleted on the same schedule. One safety rule in every agent says it plainly: ask only for the information you need to help with the call.
Your privacy officer decides
General information, not legal or clinical advice. Rules differ by state and province and change over time, so check yours. Ontario clinics: see PHIPA for Ontario clinics.
Test your intake script before a patient hears it
You must call your agent yourself, as a patient would, before you can switch it on. Make these calls, then read each record.
- Call as a new adult patient. Every answer should sit in its own field.
- Call as a parent for a child. The record should show both names.
- Name a plan you don’t accept. The agent should say so from your list and never guess.
- Say you have no insurance. It should note self-pay and quote no price.
- Start describing chest pain. The agent is set up to tell you to hang up and call 911.
- Time the call. Cut any question that doesn’t change what the front desk does.
What a new-patient call costs
A 4-minute intake call costs $3.00 at $0.75 a minute, billed by the second. 40 a month come to $120. Illustrative numbers. Taxes where applicable.
Build it yourself
Where the intake script lives in your agent
When you create the agent, answer Yes to “Will callers share health information with this agent?” and accept the health-information agreement. Then these steps hold the script.
You set all of this yourself in the 365vox portal, on the Customize screen. Everything saves as you type; then you submit, test the agent with a real call and activate it.
Customize · your agent
- Step 3, Questions to askAdd the questions above one at a time, up to 20 in all.
- Step 5, IntegrationsYour calendar, so the agent books the first visit on the call. With EHR or practice management software that has an open API, the new patient’s details and the call notes go straight into it too.
- Step 8, Call notificationsYour new-patient coordinator. The email says a call came in.
- Step 9, Business rulesProviders taking new patients, accepted plans, your referral rule, what to bring, and whether you see self-pay patients.
- Step 10, Things your agent will never doAdd
Never say a visit is covered by insurance.
andNever ask for a Social Security number.
- Step 11, Phone numberFor a separate new-patient line, a 365vox number ($3 a month, free during the trial) on its own agent.
Comparing virtual receptionist services?
Live answering services usually sell monthly plans of minutes or calls. 365vox is an AI virtual receptionist that answers forwarded calls on the first ring, day and night, follows your approved answers and costs $0.75 a minute, billed by the second, with no plan.
More for medical practices
New patient intake question FAQs
What are the most important new patient phone intake questions?
Should the receptionist ask for a date of birth on the first call?
Can it tell a new patient whether we take their insurance plan?
Why shouldn’t a new patient give a health card number over the phone?
How many intake questions can the agent ask on one call?
What should the agent do if a new patient starts describing symptoms?
Do uninsured or self-pay patients need different intake questions?
Where do the answers to the intake questions go after the call?
The right questions, in the same order, for every new patient.
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