Patient Check-In System

Patient check-in software is a digital solution that streamlines the registration process for specialty healthcare practices, allowing patients to check in, verify insurance, make payments, complete forms and update information quickly and securely. Instead of manual paperwork and long wait times, patient check-in software enables a seamless, automated experience via patient-led tools like kiosks, tablets and mobile devices. 

With Clearwave’s patient-led registration practices see: 

• 99% patient adoption, reducing staff workloads every day 

• 112% increase in collections on average, speeding up cash flow 

• 90% drop in average check-in times, improving patient flow  

By eliminating bottlenecks and administrative burdens, a patient check-in system enhances practice efficiency, boosts revenue and elevates the patient experience. 

Learn more about Clearwave’s Patient Check-in System by taking a demo. 

Patient check-in software aims to help practices reduce operational costs by optimizing staffing, patient intake and collections. With automated and patient-led tools to manage a majority of registration-related tasks, practices can see more patients without having to hire additional staff.

At the same time, practices can reallocate registration staff to other roles, by having kiosks and other patient-led check-in tools handle a majority of the patients checking in. By putting the power in the patients' hands, practices have seen significant reduction in operating costs and an increase in efficiency, with patient data and collections automatically flowing back into their practice management system.

Why Traditional Check-in Processes Are Draining Your Resources

• Taking Up Staff Time: Traditional patient check-in methods rely heavily on manual processes that consume valuable staff time and create bottlenecks in your practice workflow. When administrative staff spend hours verifying insurance, updating demographic information, processing paperwork or handing out tablets — that's time they could have spent on other manual tasks. When you can free them up from mundane check-in tasks they have more time for other responsibilities, meaning you need less staff managing the front desk. 
• Increased Collections Fees: With manual processes, practices typically experience higher rates of claim rejections due to outdated insurance information or mistranscribed data by staff. This bad data impacts claim processing down the line, increasing rejections and resubmission fees, increasing costs for practices. Additionally, given that a patient’s likelihood of paying their dues drops to just 30% once they leave the practice, failure to collect payments at check-in directly impacts your bottom line. If your staff are too busy checking in patients and can't verify insurance or ask for payments in a timely manner, those payments get forgotten and eventually sent to costly collections teams or lost to write-offs. 

Key Features of the Best Patient Check-in Software for Cost Reduction

• Patient-Led Registration Options: The best patient check-in software offers Patient-led registration systems, transforming how practices manage their workflows. Self-service kiosks and mobile check-in options allow patients to take control of their registration process while reducing staff workloads at the same time. These solutions allow patients to update their demographic information, scan insurance cards, and sign consent forms, all without requiring any intervention from staff. This not only saves time but also improves data accuracy, as patients are more likely to provide correct personal information when entering it themselves.
• Easier Payment Collections: One of the most significant benefits of patient-led check-in software is improved point-of-service collections. When integrated with real-time eligibility verification, these systems can accurately calculate patient responsibility and prompt for payment during check-in. The integration of payment functionality during registration also improves point-of-service collections of outstanding balances and co-pays. This combination of cleaner claims and reduced administrative rework translates directly to faster reimbursements and lower operational costs, creating a significant financial advantage over basic self-service options that practices can actually measure on their bottom line.

Learn more about reducing costs and increasing profits at your practice! Here are helpful articles:

• Best Patient Check-In Software for Practices That Need to Reduce Costs
• How to Circumvent Rising Healthcare Practice Costs to Fuel Profitability

Clearwave Registration stands out as the best patient check-in software because it is truly patient-led, which reduces staff workloads, increases payments and enhances patient experiences.  

Unlike basic tools, Clearwave provides the best patient check-in software to: 

• Automate the entire check-in process – from registration to clinical intake and payment collection 

• Reduce staff burden – allowing front desk teams to focus on patient care, not paperwork, payments or awkward conversations 

• Capture accurate, up-to-date patient data – minimizing claim rejections, billing errors and complications down the line 

• Integrates seamlessly with 50+ Practice Management Systems – further reducing staff involvement in data management while improving operational efficiency    

Clearwave’s platform empowers patients to take control of their own registration, while practices benefit from reduced administrative strain and increased profitability. 

Clearwave’s rules-based AI workflows for Patient Registration are designed to support specialty practices of all sizes and specialties. These smart workflows can dynamically adjust to patient demographics and appointment types, ensuring that every step aligns with practice needs—whether it’s a new patient visit, a follow-up or even a walk-in. Practices can tailor these AI-enhanced workflows to collect critical data, improve accuracy and streamline staff operations. Clearwave’s AI-driven patient registration system:

• Differentiates between new and returning patients

• Accepts walk-ins while still maintaining structured intake

• Supports all appointment types with configurable paths

• Alerts staff to complete tasks based on patient responses

• Automatically asks for the correct co-pay by specialty

• Collects past-due balances, self-pay amounts and even estimations

• Removes redundant questions for subsequent visits where possible

• Prompts for required answers, ensuring patients cannot skip past certain registration screeners or questions

• Allows practices to add custom questions to promote premium services (e.g., BOTOX, Implantable Collamer Lenses)

Clearwave's AI-driven workflows boost data accuracy and staff efficiency. As Jeremy Gibbs, Director of Finance at Pulmonary Associates explains, “Patients are going to give us their data, whether staff ask or not. With the kiosks, patients can more accurately provide their information, and we can move our staffing resources to more valuable areas, like verification, which helps us get paid faster and save time.”

Rachelle Tonga, Director of Administrative Services at Utah Cancer Specialists, emphasizes the importance of staff being alerted when patients make insurance changes during registration, “If there’s an insurance change, we know about it and we can act on it. It’s been a huge relief for our billing and claims processes. Now, during pre-check or at the kiosk, patients have to answer the questions to go to the next screen. If their insurance is expired, the system will prompt patients to update their information and it will notify our staff. It’s astounding how accurate our data is now.“

For practices with high visit frequency like physical therapy or oncology, Sonali Parry, Therapy Director at CAO Division 28 says, “As a provider, it drove me nuts that patients would have to repeat a lot of their paperwork before seeing us, especially because most of our patients come in multiple times a week. It was a huge patient complaint, and now, with Clearwave, it’s one we no longer get.”

Learn more about how Clearwave's AI-enhanced patient check-in system can benefit your practice.

Clearwave’s patient check-in system is not just another patient engagement tool—it’s a Patient-Led Self-Service Platform that puts patients in control of their healthcare experience while reducing staff workloads and increasing cash flow. 

Here’s what makes Clearwave’s patient check-in system different:
True Patient-Led Engagement: Unlike traditional check-in tools that require staff intervention, Clearwave’s patient-led kiosks allow patients to fully manage their check-in, clinical intake and payments without staff assistance. 

Point-of-Service Collections: Clearwave’s platform captures patient payments before the appointment—including co-pays, past-due balances, self-pay and estimation—increasing practice revenue and reducing collection efforts and costs. 

Portal-Free Check-in: Patients can check in using kiosks, tablets or mobile devices, choosing the method that works best for them, and not locked behind a portal wall, all while dropping wait times and staff intervention at registration. 

Flexible, Best-in-Class Logic: Clearwave’s Patient Check-In system is the best because it allows practices to tailor their registration workflows to their own unique check-in requirements. Need to remove repeat questions for existing customers or tailor workflows based on appointment service — no problem! Other vendors make practices fit their check-in workflows into limited parameters, while Clearwave works with you to ensure your check-in logic matches your nuanced needs. 

By removing manual intervention, optimizing revenue capture and ensuring seamless patient experiences, Clearwave provides a best-in-class patient check-in system that outperforms traditional engagement tools.  

Is your patient check-in software not cutting it? Find out if it's time to switch patient engagement vendors.

• 5 Patient Check-in Software Red Flags to Avoid

Patient check-in kiosks have emerged as a powerful solution that addresses multiple registration challenges at the same time. Let’s explore the advantages and potential drawbacks of implementing self-service kiosks in healthcare settings.

Pros of kiosks:

• Increased Point-of-Service Collections
  • When payments are integrated into the self-service check-in process, collection rates improve dramatically. Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics (CAO) Division 28 reports a consistent monthly co-pay collection rate of 72% with their kiosk implementation. While other practices see upwards of 96% co-pay collection rates, like Southview Medical Group, whose Clinical Systems Manager said, “We were reaching our goals nearly immediately. We don’t have people lined up out the door. We don’t have loud or packed waiting rooms. To me, the most astounding and surprising fact of it all was that we saw an even quicker increase in past-due and co-pay collections before we saw waiting room times drop.”
• Reallocation of Valuable Human Resources
  • When kiosks handle routine registration tasks, front desk staff can focus on more complex and meaningful responsibilities. This reallocation of human resources doesn’t mean eliminating jobs. It means utilizing skilled staff and manual intervention where they can add the most value. CAO Division 28 Therapy Director Sonali Parry says, “We’ve saved on the cost of adding more staff to the front desk, reducing our number of front desk staff altogether and repurposing them elsewhere.”
• Continuity for Last-Minute Challenges
  • Staffing challenges like sick days, turnover and training periods often disrupt practice operations. Self-service kiosks provide stability and consistency regardless of staffing fluctuations or even for those days that are extra busy, like after a holiday or last-minute when a provider calls out sick. Sonali Parry also shared, “Clearwave is there, checking in patients and collecting payments every day. When someone calls out sick, we can still operate and keep patient appointments on time, we don’t have to have someone come in to work overtime."
• Automated Information Capture
  • With patient-led kiosks, practices can get all the data they need from patients, filled out by patients themselves, and then imported directly into their practice management system (PMS). This approach removes the likelihood of patients not updating their data or staff manually inputting incorrect information into your PMS. Additionally, Clearwave kiosks, for example, can scan both sides of insurance cards and IDs, automatically uploading these images directly into the PMS. Jeremy Gibbs, Director of Finance at Pulmonary Associates, reflects on the common frustration many practices face with partial digital solutions before implementing a check-in kiosk, “With the tablets, we had issues getting all the patient information we needed into our system. There was too much manual entry for our staff. We wanted to move to kiosks so patients would be responsible for inputting and updating in their own information.”
• Reduced Redundant Documentation
  • Patients often complain about completing repeated paperwork, especially those who receive ongoing treatment. Smart digital kiosks, like Clearwave, can be configured to streamline the returning patient process, where possible, eliminating redundant information gathering. As an Occupational Therapist herself, Sonali Parry, at CAO division 28, shares, “As a provider, it drove me nuts that patients would have to repeat a lot of their paperwork before seeing us, especially because most of our patients come in multiple times a week. It was a huge patient complaint, and now it’s one we no longer get.”
• Short Check-In Times
  • With patient check-in kiosks, one of the most immediate benefits patients notice is significantly faster check-in times. When patients can manage the registration process on their own, without staff handing them a tablet or looking at their small phone screen, practices see dramatic improvements. For example, Pulmonary Associates saw a decrease in average check-in time to 2m16s after implementing kiosks. Creating this efficiency translates to more satisfied patients who spend less time waiting and more time receiving care.
• Enhanced Privacy for Sensitive Information
  • Traditional check-in processes often require patients to discuss personal information, including medical conditions and payment details, at the front desk, where others might overhear. Self-service kiosks provide a private environment for patients to review and update their information, make payments, and handle other sensitive matters without public discussion. Jeremy Gibbs, at Pulmonary Associates, notes, “Patients are going to give us their data, whether staff ask or not. With the kiosks, patients can more accurately provide their information, and we can move our staffing resources to more valuable areas, like verification, which helps us get paid faster and save time.”

Considerations of kiosks:

As you consider the pros and cons of self-service kiosks, remember that not all solutions deliver equal results. Not all self-service kiosks are patient-led or successful in delivering the above advantages. Practices should look for solutions that offer comprehensive features, including eligibility verification, payment processing and intuitive interfaces that patients of all ages and technological comfort levels can navigate with minimal assistance, like Clearwave kiosks. 

Clearwave’s patient check-in system is designed to support specialty practices of all sizes and specialties. With nearly 500 successful clients, from large, multi-specialty groups to growing independent practices, Clearwave continues to drive results by putting time and money back into your practice! 

As a constant innovator in the patient check-in software market, Clearwave recognizes that every practice has distinct needs and challenges. Clearwave’s pricing models are designed to align with your practice’s size, patient volume, provider contingencies and additional requirements. Connect with us today to receive a personalized quote and discover how Clearwave can help you enhance patients, profits and experiences while dropping staffing costs. 

Learn more about the cost of a Patient Check-in System.