Patient source: how to record it at an HOF clinic

"Where do my patients come from?" Almost every HOF clinic owner answers that from memory, and memory gets it wrong. Whoever remembers the patient who came from the ad forgets the ten who came through quiet word of mouth. Without a record, deciding where to invest time and money becomes guesswork.

This guide shows how to create a patient source field in the records, which categories to use, how to avoid the most common data-entry mistakes and how to turn the data into decisions. The idea is simple and cheap, works in a spreadsheet or a system and respects data protection.

Why record the source?

The source answers questions that change the month's budget:

• Which channel brings the most contacts? And which brings the most patients who commit?
• Is a patient referral worth more than a partner's?
• Does Instagram generate consultations or just likes?
• Is that ad worth keeping?

Without a recorded source, you measure only message volume. With a source, you measure conversion rate by channel, and you find that the channel bringing the most messages is not always the one bringing the most revenue.

The ideal field: simple and closed

The best field is a closed list of options, chosen in the record. A free-text field becomes a mess: "insta," "Instagram," "ig," "saw the profile" end up as four different sources.

Eight to ten options are enough. More than that, and the team does not know which to pick.

Who asks and when

The source should be recorded in two steps:

1. At first contact: whoever answers WhatsApp records the apparent source.
2. At the consultation: the professional or the front desk confirms with a friendly open question.

Sample question for the consultation: "Just so we understand how people find us: how did you hear about the clinic?" Do not press, and do not ask in a way that feels like an interrogation.

Mixed sources: what to do

Many patients go through more than one channel: they saw the profile, heard about it from a friend and then searched on Google. To keep that information without complicating the record:

• Record one main source: the first one that sparked interest.
• If you wish, record a decision source: what led to the booking.

Two columns are enough. Avoid multiple fields that nobody analyzes.

LGPD and data care

The source field is marketing data and sits in the record, next to name and phone. That calls for care:

• Do not mix the source with health information in the same notes field.
• State the purpose (understanding where advertising works) in the clinic's privacy notice.
• Restrict access: someone who only answers WhatsApp does not need to see finances.
• Never use photos or clinical data for channel analysis.

See LGPD in the clinic's marketing and LGPD in patient records and photos to go deeper. The LGPD requires a clear purpose and minimization, and a well-designed source field meets both.

How to analyze by channel

A monthly analysis spreadsheet has few columns per source:

With that, you calculate three ratios:

• Contact to consultation: shows the quality of the contact.
• Consultation to acceptance: shows how well the channel fits your service.
• Revenue per contact: shows the channel's value.

Hypothetical example: channel A brought 40 contacts and 4 acceptances; channel B brought 10 contacts and 4 acceptances. In volume, A looks better. In quality, B wins, because each contact is worth much more. To tie this to cost, see patient acquisition cost and sales funnel.

Interpretation traps

Crediting everything to the last click. A patient who "came from Google" may have heard of you through a referral and only confirmed the address in search. The main source helps avoid that bias.

Measuring only in the short term. Content and relationships usually take months to generate consultations. Compare long periods before cutting a channel.

Ignoring ticket size. A channel that brings many low-ticket patients can be less profitable than a small channel. Cross the source with the average ticket per patient.

Confusing source with reason. Source is "how they arrived." Reason is "why they came." If you want to understand the reason, use a separate question in the intake form, without mixing the two.

Who fills it in and how to keep the habit

The field only works if the team fills it in every time. A few simple actions help:

If the clinic uses Harmy, the app does not replace the record: it is for the projection at the consultation. But it can help organize the routine, because the patient's name is the starting point of each session and the history is kept separate by patient.

The source at each stage of care

The same field appears at different moments, and each person on the team has a role:

• Whoever answers WhatsApp records the source in the first exchange of messages, even if it is "don't know yet." A provisional field is better than an empty one.
• The front desk confirms on arrival, with the friendly question, and corrects it if the first note was wrong.
• The professional only joins the conversation when the patient volunteers something, like "my friend had it done here." In that case, the front desk notes the name of the person who referred them, if the patient wants to share it, to say thank you later.
• Whoever handles finances cross-checks the source with revenue at month-end.

A detail that saves rework: when the source is a referral, record who referred them only if the patient says so. Insisting on the name causes discomfort and can sound like a demand.

Hypothetical example of a quarterly reading

Imagine a fictional clinic that recorded 120 new contacts in three months. Grouped by source, a picture like this appears: patient referral with 30 contacts, Instagram with 50, Google with 25 and partnerships with 15. In consultations held, referral leads. In acceptances, too. Instagram brings volume but converts less. The reasonable decision is not to abandon Instagram, but to adjust the content to attract people already thinking about an assessment and to strengthen post-visit care to encourage more referrals. The number does not decide on its own, but it points to where to investigate.

From data to decision

Recording without deciding is just bureaucracy. At the end of each quarter, answer three questions:

1. Which channel brought the patients who return the most?
2. Which channel deserves more time or investment next quarter?
3. Which channel can I cut back without losing demand?

Write the decision in one line and review it next quarter. The goal is not to have a pretty dashboard but to know where to look. For a next step, the weekly indicators dashboard shows how to combine the source with other numbers and track them with little effort. If the strongest channel is referral, it is worth structuring that better in patient referrals.