Oct 30, 2024 
A massage intake form is an important step for any massage therapist. It may sound obvious, but it is the starting point of a new relationship with a patient or client. It helps in gathering essential information about the client’s health, preferences, and expectations, ensuring a smooth and effective massage therapy session.
However, as obvious as an intake form may be, it is not as simple. Massage therapists that are collecting health information, transmitting health information electronically for HIPAA-covered transactions like submitting insurance claims, conducting a massage therapy on behalf of a healthcare provider, like a chiropractor or physical therapist, then you are required to follow HIPAA compliance.
What does that mean for you? Don’t worry, today we show you what it means to make your massage therapy intake forms both HIPAA friendly and easy to understand, especially in the case of an online form.
What Makes Intake Forms HIPAA-Compliant?
To ensure that your intake forms meet HIPAA compliance standards, it’s essential to consider how you store and handle sensitive client information, both on paper and digitally. Offline, you should store completed forms in a secure, locked cabinet, accessible only to authorized personnel.
For forms online, using a HIPAA compliant form builder platform is the key. Because HIPAA itself has a multifaceted checklist of technical, physical, and administrative safeguards. Like, when HIPAA says physical safeguards it includes controlling access to facilities where electronic protected health information (ePHI) is stored, securing workstations used for accessing ePHI, and managing the use and disposal of devices like hard drives and USBs that store ePHI. Technical measures include encryption and access control, and administrative safeguards include workforce training and business associate agreements.
These protocols ensure patient data is encrypted and securely stored, safeguarding sensitive data from potential breaches, and your massage therapy practice from major fines and criminal charges!
But don’t panic – the easiest solution to this problem is to use a form builder that already has HIPAA compliance features. (Like MakeForms!) Then many of these requirements come built in and you don’t really have to do anything about quite a few of the compliance matters. Of course there are still elements of physical and administrative practices you will have to handle, but all in all, your intake forms and your patient’s PHI will be in safe hands.
So now let’s get to the content of a massage intake form; how can we ensure that the form is easy to understand but also includes HIPAA compliant messaging.
What Should Be Included in a HIPAA-Compliant Massage Intake Form?
A HIPAA-compliant client intake form needs to include specific types of patient or client information while ensuring that you’re not collecting unnecessary data, but also has clear notifications as required by HIPAA. This includes:
- Client Information: Basic details such as name, contact information, and emergency contact.
- Medical History: Information about any current or past health conditions, injuries, surgeries, or allergies that could impact the massage session.
- Consent for Treatment: A clear section where clients give their consent for the massage, including an acknowledgment of the therapist’s qualifications, the types of treatments offered, and any limitations or contraindications. Alternatively, you can even do a separate consent form that covers these in detail. (More below)
- Privacy Policy Acknowledgement: A section where clients acknowledge your practice’s privacy policies, specifically addressing how their patient data will be used, stored, and shared under HIPAA compliance.
- HIPAA Authorization for Information Sharing: This is important only if you need to share client information with other health professionals or insurance companies. Clients should give explicit permission for this sharing in accordance with HIPAA regulations.
- Electronic Signatures (if applicable): A place for clients to provide their electronic signatures, confirming that they have understood and agreed to the terms laid out in the form.
- Emergency Contacts and Permission for Emergency Treatment: It’s essential to have this section in case any medical issues arise during the session.
Consent Form with Intake Form
The American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) outlines key elements that an informed consent form should include:
- An overview of your massage approach
- Benefits, limitations, and any contraindications of the massage
- A summary of what clients can expect, including the duration, specific techniques, and the process of undressing and draping
- Your qualifications and areas of expertise, along with any limitations of practice based on those credentials
Fee details, including cancellation and late arrival policies - Insurance information, if applicable
- A confidentiality and privacy statement
Best Practices for a HIPAA-Compliant Massage Intake Form
By following HIPAA guidelines and making online intake forms, you are not only building trust with your clients but also streamlining the intake process. We’ve got for you some quick tips and best practices to help you enhance and optimize your massage intake forms even more.
- Use HIPAA compliant online form builders: Nowadays many online form builders exist that have UIs as easy to use as Google Forms but also have the additional features and security to create beautiful, professional and HIPAA compliant forms. It can take you just about a few minutes to create an intake form for yourself while it is compliant.
- Integrate it with other tools: Your new clients can fill out these online client intake forms, select a preferred time on a calendar, and make their payment too in advance, if you’re using the right form maker. Many form makers integrate with calendar apps or payment gateways making it a complete one-stop form. Can you imagine in how many ways this will help you save time and make your internal processes so much more efficient?!
- Ensure your forms are responsive: When using a form editor for your online massage client intake forms, always ensure that they are optimized to open on mobile phones, tabs, and laptops. Most form builders should have this option especially if you’re making custom forms yourself.
How MakeForms Can Help You Stay HIPAA-Compliant
MakeForms provides all the tools you need to create and manage HIPAA-compliant forms With its intuitive form editor, you can create custom forms that meet the specific needs of your massage therapy practice.
MakeForms HIPAA compliance features include:
- Secure Storage and Access Control
- Signing BAAs
- Cloud-based Data Storage with AWS
- Compliance with Industry Standards (ISO, SOC 2, HITRUST)
- Encryption of Data (at rest and in transit)
- Regular Penetration Testing
- Continuous Vulnerability Checks
- Business Continuity Policy
- Secured Employee Devices
- Continuous Data Backup
MakeForms makes your massage intake forms more efficient with these features:
- Calendar and Payment Integrations
- Mobile Responsiveness
- Template Libraries
- AI-Powered Form Creation
- Intuitive User Interface
- Pre-filled Form Options
- Conditional Logic
- Real-Time Data Analytics
- Multilingual Support
HIPAA Compliant Massage Intake Forms Don’t Have To Be Difficult!
By enabling clients to complete forms online, you can reduce wait times, minimize paperwork, and ensure that all necessary information is collected in advance. Simply, use HIPAA compliant form makers, and focus on gathering essential information in clearly worded forms so you can protect your practice and your patients.
FAQs: HIPAA-Compliant Massage Intake Forms
If massage therapists are collecting or transmitting health information as part of insurance claims or working with healthcare providers, they must adhere to HIPAA compliance. This ensures that patients’ health information is kept private and secure, protecting both the practice and the client from potential data breaches.
A HIPAA compliant massage client intake form should only collect essential patient information like name, contact details, medical history, consent for treatment, and privacy policy acknowledgment. It’s important that clients fill out the required fields to ensure their health information is handled properly. If needed, add a section for electronic signatures to confirm the client’s consent.
MakeForms allows clients to complete forms online, reducing wait times and simplifying the intake process. Ensure your forms are optimized for use on mobile devices to provide easy access for clients, allowing them to fill out forms from anywhere, whether on a phone, tablet, or laptop.
