The Best Onboarding Experience for a New HRT Patient — Step by Step

A great first impression sets the tone for a successful, long-term relationship with your hormone replacement therapy (HRT) patients. In today’s fast-paced world of telehealth and personalized medicine, patients expect a smooth, tech-enabled experience from the moment they reach out to your clinic. Whether you specialize in testosterone therapy, bioidentical hormone replacement, or pellet therapy, your HRT onboarding workflow must be efficient, compliant, and patient-centered.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the ideal HRT onboarding process step-by-step, from intake to lab work, consult to prescription, and follow-up to dose adjustment. You’ll also learn how to leverage EMR automation to create a seamless journey that improves satisfaction, ensures compliance, and scales with your practice.

Why the HRT Onboarding Experience Matters

Starting hormone therapy is a big decision for many patients, often driven by months or even years of unresolved symptoms like fatigue, weight gain, mood swings, or low libido. The onboarding experience is your opportunity to:

• Build trust through education and transparency
• Set clear expectations about the treatment journey
• Ensure clinical safety and regulatory compliance
• Establish the systems needed for long-term monitoring and support

Clinics that offer a streamlined, patient-friendly onboarding process not only convert more leads, but retain them longer.

Step 1: Digital Intake & Pre-Screening

The HRT journey starts with gathering the right information upfront.

What to Include:

• Medical history and medication list
• Hormone-related symptoms checklist
• Menstrual history (for female patients)
• Previous lab results or treatments
• Consent to receive communication and book labs

Automate It:

Use your EMR or patient portal to send intelligent intake forms that auto-populate into the patient chart. This saves time for both staff and providers, and ensures complete records before the consult.

OptiMantra Tip: Trigger intake forms automatically when a new patient books an HRT evaluation or follow up. 

Step 2: Order Baseline Labs

Before prescribing hormones, labs are essential to confirm deficiency, rule out contraindications, and tailor dosing.

In additional to your standard labs like cbc, cmp, lipid panel, and a pregnancy test for females, Key labs to order also include:

• Men: Total & Free Testosterone, SHBG, Estradiol, PSA, CBC, CMP, Lipid Panel
• Women: Estradiol, Progesterone, Testosterone, DHEA-S, TSH, LH, FSH, Vitamin D

For cycling women, labs should ideally be drawn on days 19–21 of the menstrual cycle.

Automate It:

Create custom or use pre-built lab panel templates in your EMR and integrate with national labs like Labcorp, Access, or Quest. OptiMantra centralizes intake and lab ordering, allowing you to approve and queue requests right away and receive results directly in the system, streamlining clinical decision-making with accurate records and timely care. 

Step 3: HRT Consult & Treatment Planning

Once labs are in, schedule a synchronous telehealth or in-person consult to review results and determine clinical appropriateness for HRT.

What to Cover:

• Review symptoms and lab markers together
• Discuss risks, benefits, and treatment options (e.g., topical vs. pellet vs. injections)
• Confirm medical eligibility and address patient questions
• Obtain informed consent for HRT, HIPAA, Office Policies, etc. 

Automate It:

Use smart chart note templates that prompt you to document clinical justification, lab interpretation, and consent. OptiMantra’s integrated scheduling tools make it easy to send reminders, consent forms, and intake recaps through the patient portal.

Pro Tip: Save time with reusable HRT chart templates that keep your workflows organized and compliant.

Step 4: Prescription Fulfillment & Pharmacy Coordination

Once the treatment plan is in place, it’s time to write the first prescription, whether it’s a compounded cream, testosterone injection, or estradiol patch.

Key Fulfillment Considerations:

• Use 503A pharmacies licensed in the patient’s state
• For testosterone (a controlled substance), follow DEA and state-specific eRx rules
• Ensure prescriptions are based on individual patient evaluation
• Avoid auto-refills unless clinically reviewed and documented

Automate It:

Choose an EMR with e-prescribing integrations for both commercial and compounded medications. With OptiMantra, you can auto-populate prescriptions from consult notes, send them securely to the patient’s pharmacy, save favorites for quick ordering, and track refills and dose changes.

Step 5: Follow-Up & Monitoring Protocols

HRT isn’t a one-and-done treatment, it requires regular follow-up, lab monitoring, and dose adjustments to ensure safety and symptom relief.

Suggested Follow-Up Timeline:

• 6–8 weeks post-start: Lab re-check + symptom review
• Every 3–6 months: Dose reassessment and safety labs (e.g., hematocrit, estradiol, PSA)
• Annually: Full review with CBC, CMP, thyroid, and lipid panels

Automate It:

Use your EMR to set auto-reminders for follow-up visits and lab re-testing so patients are notified when it's time to re-test or book follow-up visits. In OptiMantra, you can also use tasks to send reminder emails before a patient’s next appointment to have their labs drawn. Track symptom scores, hormone trends, and prescription history over time, all in one chart.

Keep a consistent documentation protocol to satisfy medical boards, protect your license, and support long-term outcomes.

Want to Deliver a Better HRT Onboarding Experience?

A seamless onboarding process not only boosts patient satisfaction but also enhances clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, and long-term retention. When intake, labs, and prescriptions flow smoothly within a unified EMR system, patients feel supported and confident in their care.

Use OptiMantra to:

• Auto-trigger consents,  intake forms, and reference favorite lab panels
• Support synchronous telehealth with e-consent
• Include e-prescribing for commercial + compounded meds
• Track HRT protocols, refills, labs, and follow-ups
• Offer pre-built charting templates for hormone consults and follow ups
• Generate compliant superbills and billing codes
• AI-powered charting with DeepCura

OptiMantra effectively streamlines patient workflows from intake through follow-up, with built-in automation and tools that support compliance, making it a strong fit for hormone therapy clinics.

Try for free here to see how OptiMantra can transform your HRT onboarding process.