Intake on arrival means the visit starts with a clipboard and ends with someone retyping handwriting into the record. Moving it before the visit changes both ends of that problem.
Keep the form shorter than you think
Ask for what actually affects the visit: contact and insurance details, reason for the visit, current medications and allergies, and the consents you are required to hold. Anything the clinician will ask directly can stay out of the form.
Send it when the patient is paying attention
The best moment is immediately after booking, with one reminder if the form is still open a day before the appointment. Later than that and it competes with getting to the clinic.
Design for a phone
Most pre-visit forms are completed on a phone, standing up, in under three minutes. Long dropdowns and multi-column layouts are where completion rates fall apart.
What the front desk gets back
When intake lands in the record before arrival, check-in becomes verification rather than data entry — and the time saved is spread across every visit of the day, not just the complicated ones.