New clients arrive at the front desk, on the phone, and in the middle of other work. The Create client drawer opens from anywhere so you never leave the page you are on.
Open it
- Click New in the top bar and choose your client term (for example Patient). The other choice, Appointment, opens the calendar to book. With the menu open you can also press P or A.
- In search (⌘K, or Ctrl+K on Windows), type "new client" and choose Add new client, or search for the person and pick Add … as a new client when they are not on file; what you typed is filled in.
- On the Clients page, click Add patient (the button follows your terminology).
- From a caller's New Patient message: see Add a caller from the call.
The drawer slides in from the right with your practice's name under the title, or a practice picker if you have more than one location.
Fill it in
Client info. Enter the legal first name and legal last name (the only required fields), what name they go by, and the date of birth. The birthday sets Adult or Minor (under 18); Mark as minor or Mark as adult changes it. Gender is optional.
A minor gets a Parent or guardian section (name, relationship, phone, email), with Add another parent or guardian for up to five more. For an adult, Add guarantor adds someone responsible for the bill (Parent, Guardian, Spouse or Other), with Add another guarantor. The parent's or guarantor's email stays there; the client's own email below is what signs them in to the Client Portal. See Guarantors.
Under Billing type pick Self-pay (the default) or Insurance for individual appointments and again for group appointments (not shown at locations connected to athenahealth). Referred by suggests answers your practice has used before and accepts anything you type.
Client status. Active is the default. Choose Prospective for someone still in intake; they become Active after their first completed visit. Tick Add to waitlist to place them on it straight away (a phone number is needed).
Contact details. An email with its type (Home, Work, Other) and permission (Email OK or No email); a phone with its type (Mobile, Home, Work) and permission (Text and voice, Text only, Voice only, No text or voice). A work number's extension goes in the same box, typed after the number: (555) 201-3344 ext 12, x12, or #12 on a phone's keypad. A second number can follow after a slash or a comma. Texts and calls go to the first number. Leave Send intake documents next ticked to go straight into sending documents after saving. Add mailing address opens street, apt or suite, city, state and ZIP.
Reminder and notification options. Switches for Upcoming appointments, Incomplete documents and Cancellations, each with the channels it may use (email and text on, voice off, to start). A channel the permissions do not allow is greyed out with the reason, for example "no text permission".
Add a caller from the call
When the AI takes a New Patient message, click Add patient on its card in Tasks, or in the New patient info card of the call details. The drawer opens with the caller's name, date of birth, phone and email filled in, and a From the call section: what the caller told the AI (reason for visit, visit type, preferred times) and editable Insurance carrier, Member ID, Pharmacy and Primary care doctor. Check them and fix anything misheard; nothing there is required.
The footer then has Add patient (saves and opens the profile) and Add & book visit (saves and opens the calendar to book, with the reason and preferences as the booking note). The message is linked to the new client.
At an athenahealth location where FrontDesk doesn't create new patients, the button reads View details on the task card (and Add patient · Coming soon in the call details): register the caller in athena from what the call recorded.
Continue
Click Continue. The client is created, added to the waitlist if you asked, and their profile opens with a toast confirming the name. If Send intake documents next was ticked, the Send documents wizard opens on top of the new profile with your default package pre-selected; otherwise the profile shows a green callout offering to send them. New to the profile? See Find your way around a client chart.
An email or phone another client in the practice already has is flagged on that field. For a family that shares one, the drawer offers Use as shared email or Use as shared phone: it stays the other client's main contact and this client gets it under Contacts, marked to get their reminders. Reminders reach a shared contact only when "Reminder copies to guardians and contacts" is on under Settings → Client Notifications.