The Patient Registration feature in the Business Office allows your team to manage patient records, merge duplicates, and control patient flow across Status Boards, depending on your permissions and hospital setup.
Permissions required
Access to the Business Office and Patient Registration depends on user permissions.
business_office_manage_accounts_and_patients
With this permission ON: users can add or edit Patient/Client Accounts anywhere in Instinct .
With this permission OFF: users can not add or edit Patient/Client Accounts anywhere in Instinct, and when using Force Check Out Instinct will not suggest a Patient Merge.
business_office_read_only
With this permission ON: users can view Patient and Client data anywhere in Instinct, but they can not add or edit Patient or Client data, and when using Force Check Out Instinct will not suggest a Patient Merge.
With this permission OFF: users can not navigate to the Business Office, and they can not add or edit Patient or Client data, and when using Force Check Out Instinct will not suggest a Patient Merge.
The business_office_manage_referrers permission applies only to EMR customers.
Note: If a user has none of the above business_office permissions, the Business Office icon does not display in the left navigation bar and is not accessible anywhere in Instinct
Patient registration tab
The Patient Registration tab in the Business Office is where you can:
Register new patients
Search patients by:
Patient ID
Patient name
Owner name
Merge duplicate patients
Check patients in or out
Register a new patient in the Business Office
Follow these steps to register a new patient:
Go to Business Office → Patient Registration
Click + New Patient
Enter patient and account details
Click Save or Save & Check In
Note: If you prefer to add the Account (owner) details first, click on the face icon next to search accounts to pull open the Account Registration.
Patient Registration screen from ITP
Required patient fields
When registering a new patient, the following patient fields are required before Saving or Checking In the patient:
Patient ID (For ITP hospitals only) - Should match the patient ID in your existing PIMS
Patient Name
Species
Breed
If you know the patient’s Birth Date, filling in this field will automatically populate the patient’s Age. Alternatively filling in the Age field will automatically populate the Birth Date using the current day’s date.
Patient alerts
You can add patient-level alerts during registration:
Next to Patient Alerts, click + Add
Select any alert(s) from the dropdown to apply to the patient's Chart going forward.
To remove a Patient Alert, hover over it and click the X.
Note: If your hospital uses Instinct EMR, the Patient Registration screen includes the RHOSPS section.
Instinct EMR will automatically generate a Patient ID.
Edit an existing patient
Follow these steps to edit an existing patient:
Use the search bar to find existing Instinct patients by,
Patient name
Patient PIMS code
Account PIMS code
Phone number
Select the patient from the results
Update the patient information and save
Search for a patient
Use the search bar in Patient Registration to find patients by:
First or last name
Patient PIMS code
Account PIMS code
Phone number
The search bar will provide not only exact matches, but also close matches, in case of accidental misspellings!
Once you have found your patient, you can use the 3 dot menu next to the Patient ID to perform various actions such as:
For checked-in patients
ITP hospitals can:
Update what Status Board they are on
Location: (for multi-location hospitals only): You can change the hospital location for the patient
Check Out the patient (Unconnected Hospitals)
Use communication tools
Navigate to the patients Treatment Sheet, Vitals Board, or Invoice
EMR hospitals can:
Update what Status Board they are on
Location: (for multi-location hospitals only): You can change the hospital location for the patient
Schedule Appointments
Check Out the patient
Use communication tools
Navigate to the patient's Chart, Treatment Sheet, Vitals, Estimates, Comm Log, Rx, Invoice, and Payments & Ledger
Upload Attachments to the patient's Chart
For checked Out Patients
ITP hospitals can:
Check In the patient (Unconnected Hospitals)
Open the Edit Patient window
Navigate to the last Invoice
EMR Hospitals can:
Check In the patient
Schedule Appointment
Navigate to the patient's Chart, Comm Log, Rx, Invoice and Payments & Ledger
Upload attachments to patient's Chart
For Patients in EMR, who have not been previously seen, you can:
Check In the patient
Schedule Appointment
Navigate to the patient's Chart, Comm Log, and Payments & Ledger
Upload attachments to the patient's Chart
Check In a Patient
ITP Connected Hospitals: Patients will automatically be checked into Instinct on the OP Board when the patient is checked into your practice management system. If you are experiencing a temporary outage with your practice management system connection, you can always manually check patients in to Instinct following the Unconnected Hospitals manual check in process. Once your connection is restored, the check in will sync back up.
ITP Unconnected Hospitals: Patients will need to be manually checked into Instinct.
For Existing Patients, search for the patient by their ID, name, or owner last name. Then use either the 3 dot menu next to the Patient ID or the Check In button to check the patient in.
Note: Alternatively, you can use the patient look-up to check in existing patients too!
EMR check-in options
EMR hospitals can check in patients from the Appointment Calendar, Patient Registration, Rapid Registration, or Patient look-up.
Appointment Calendar
Business Office → Patient Registration
Rapid Registration
Rapid Registration is designed for urgent cases where treatment must begin immediately.
How it works
Click the Rapid Registration icon in the left navigation
Begin typing:
Patient Name to find existing patients or create a new one
Account Last Name to find or create an account
Existing records auto-populate when selected
Choose:
Rapid Check-In, or
Fully Register
Once created, click Save & Check In.
Complete the check-in
To complete the checking:
Complete the check-in
Inpatient
Outpatient
Boarding
OTW
Add any required details
Click Check In
The patient will appear on the selected Status Board.
Pro Tip: For ITP only, if you know the patient’s ID, click the arrow next to + New Patient to quickly check them into the OTW board.
Check out a patient
ITP Connected Hospitals: Patients will automatically be checked out of Instinct when the patient is checked out of your practice management system. However, if the patient is checked out of your practice management system and still remains in Instinct, you have the option to Force Check Out.
Force Check Out Process
Confirm the patient is checked out in your practice software
Go to the Status Board
Click the three-dot menu next to the patient
Select Force Check Out
If another patient has the same name, Instinct may suggest merging records.
Note: If a patient is being force checked out and has the exact same name as another patient, Instinct will suggest merging the patient records. Although it’s not mandatory to merge records, we highly recommend having only 1 account per patient.
ITP unconnected hospitals: Patients will need to be manually checked out of Instinct. You can check out patients from:
Patient Registration
Three-dot menu next to the patient’s name anywhere in Instinct
EMR check-out options
With EMR, patients can be checked out from Patient Registration, 3-dot menu next to the patient's name, or when taking a payment on the patient's invoice.
Patient Registration
3-Dot Menu (via the Status Board or patient search)
Payments Panel after taking a payment
You will see three different options when checking out a patient.
Cancel – This cancels the check out process.
Check Out – This checks the patient out and the invoice remains open. You will then be able to go back to the patient invoice and either Close Invoice or Cancel.
Check Out & Close Invoice – This checks the patient out and changes the invoice status to closed.