Questionnaires

Questionnaires enable you to collect structured, standardized information from patients before or after appointments. Built on FHIR R4 standards, they support everything from simple intake forms to validated clinical screening tools like PHQ-9 and GAD-7.

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Overview

With Questionnaires, you can:

• Choose from validated templates - PHQ-9, GAD-7, WHO-5, and Pre-Visit Intake Form
• Send questionnaires with appointments - Automatically linked to specific appointments
• Let patients fill out forms online - Mobile-friendly patient portal
• Review responses as a practitioner - See patient answers in appointment details
• Track response status - Know which patients have completed their forms

Available Templates

Florence Health includes clinically validated questionnaires ready to use out of the box.

Pre-Visit Intake Form (Patientenaufnahme)

Standard intake form patients fill out before their first or regular visit.

Covers:

• Reason for visit and symptom duration
• Pain assessment (location, intensity, character)
• Medical history (previous conditions, surgeries, hospitalizations)
• Allergies and intolerances
• Current medications
• Lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol, physical activity)
• Family history

PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9)

The gold standard depression screening instrument, validated for use in primary care.

Clinical details:

• 9 questions about depressive symptoms over the past 2 weeks
• Each item scored 0–3 (not at all → nearly every day)
• Total score 0–27
• Cutoffs: ≥5 mild, ≥10 moderate, ≥15 moderately severe, ≥20 severe
• Validated German translation (KBV, public domain)

GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7)

Validated anxiety screening instrument, frequently used alongside PHQ-9.

Clinical details:

• 7 questions about anxiety symptoms over the past 2 weeks
• Each item scored 0–3
• Total score 0–21
• Cutoffs: ≥5 mild, ≥10 moderate, ≥15 severe
• Validated German translation

WHO-5 (WHO Well-Being Index)

Brief wellbeing screening instrument — 5 questions, fast and reliable.

Clinical details:

• 5 questions about wellbeing over the past 2 weeks
• Each item scored 0–5 (at no time → all of the time)
• Raw score × 4 = Percentage wellbeing score (0–100%)
• Score below 50% suggests poor wellbeing; below 28% suggests depression
• Available in 30+ languages

Setting Up Questionnaires

Adding Your First Questionnaire

1. Navigate to Settings → Questionnaires in your dashboard
2. Click Add Questionnaire
3. Choose a template from the list
4. The questionnaire is immediately active and available for use

Note: Each questionnaire template can only be added once per organization. If you need to make changes, the system creates a new version automatically.

Viewing Your Questionnaires

Your questionnaires list in Settings → Questionnaires shows:

• Questionnaire title and description
• Current version number
• Status (Active, Draft, Retired)

Click any questionnaire to view its details, including all questions in the form.

Deleting a Questionnaire

1. Navigate to Settings → Questionnaires
2. Click the questionnaire you want to remove
3. Click Delete

Important: Deleting a questionnaire is a soft delete — historical responses linked to it remain intact for patient records. You cannot delete a questionnaire that has active patient responses in progress.

How Questionnaires Work with Appointments

When a practitioner books an appointment, the system automatically creates a questionnaire response for the patient if a matching questionnaire is active in the organization. The response starts as “in-progress” and patients are notified to fill it out before their visit.

Patient Experience

Patients access their questionnaire from the Patient Portal:

1. Patient logs into the patient portal
2. They see their upcoming appointment and a linked questionnaire
3. Patient fills out the form at their own pace — progress is auto-saved
4. Patient submits the form when complete
5. The response is immediately available to the practitioner

Form Features for Patients

• Auto-save: Progress is saved automatically as patients fill out the form
• Conditional questions: Relevant follow-up questions appear based on previous answers (e.g., allergy details only appear if patient indicates they have allergies)
• Mobile-friendly: Works on phones and tablets
• Validation: Required fields are clearly marked; patients cannot submit incomplete forms

Practitioner View

Once a patient submits their questionnaire:

1. Open the appointment in your calendar
2. Click on the appointment to view details
3. The Questionnaire Response section shows the patient’s answers
4. Response status is clearly indicated (In Progress, Completed, Amended)

Questionnaire Statuses

Questionnaire Statuses

Response Statuses

Understanding Versioning

Questionnaires are immutable once active — this is by design. If you need to update a questionnaire:

• The system creates a new version with your changes
• The previous version is retired (not deleted)
• Existing responses remain linked to the exact version they were filled out with
• New responses use the latest active version

This preserves the integrity of historical data — you always know which question wording a patient answered.

Example: If you update PHQ-9 question text, responses from last month still reference the original wording. New responses use the updated wording.

Conditional Logic

Questions can show or hide based on previous answers. For example:

• “Please list your allergies” → only appears if patient answered “Yes” to “Do you have allergies?”
• “How many cigarettes per day?” → only appears if patient selected “Current smoker”

This keeps forms concise — patients only see questions relevant to them.

Best Practices

Choosing the Right Templates

• New patients: Use the Pre-Visit Intake Form for comprehensive first-visit data
• Mental health screening: Combine PHQ-9 + GAD-7 for depression and anxiety assessment
• General wellbeing checkup: WHO-5 is quick (2 minutes) and broadly applicable
• Annual check-ups: PHQ-9 is widely used for preventive care visits

Timing

• Send questionnaires before the appointment so practitioners have context when the patient arrives
• The patient portal sends questionnaires automatically when appointments are booked
• Follow up with patients who haven’t completed their forms before the visit

Clinical Use

• PHQ-9 scores ≥10 warrant clinical follow-up for depression
• GAD-7 scores ≥10 indicate moderate-to-severe anxiety requiring attention
• WHO-5 scores below 50% suggest impaired wellbeing worth exploring
• Always review responses in the context of the full clinical picture

Troubleshooting

”Questionnaire already exists”

Each template can only be added once per organization. If you see this error, the questionnaire is already active. Check Settings → Questionnaires to find it.

Patient hasn’t received their questionnaire

Questionnaires are linked to appointments. Verify:

• The appointment is booked (not just a slot selection)
• An active questionnaire exists in your organization’s settings
• The patient has access to the patient portal

Response shows as “In Progress” but appointment is today

The patient may not have completed the form yet. You can still see partial answers and proceed with the appointment. After the visit, the response can be amended if needed.

Questionnaire questions look different from a past response

This is expected behavior — the questionnaire was updated (new version created), and historical responses correctly display the original question wording from when they were submitted.

What’s Next?

The Questionnaires feature is continuously expanding. Upcoming enhancements include:

• Custom questionnaire builder — Create your own questionnaires from scratch
• Automated scoring — PHQ-9/GAD-7 scores calculated automatically
• Trending over time — Track patient wellbeing scores across visits
• Questionnaire assignment rules — Automatically assign specific questionnaires based on appointment type

Need help? Contact our support team or check the Getting Started guide for general platform setup.