Patient Paperwork
You will not find a stack of printable forms on this page, because nothing about your first visit depends on you owning a printer. Bring four simple things, arrive a few minutes early, and the front office handles the intake paperwork with you at the clinic. If you would rather fill it out before you arrive, call and we will send it ahead. Here is exactly what to have with you and what the first visit looks like.
Four things to bring. Everything else we handle here.
None of this is a barrier to being seen. If you show up with nothing but yourself, we will still evaluate you. Bringing these four simply means your therapist spends the visit on you instead of on chasing details.
Photo ID and insurance card
The card front and back is what lets our front office verify your specific benefits, deductible and visit limits, so you know what you will owe before treatment starts. If you have already called ahead with it, that part is done.
A list of current medications
Names and doses, or a phone photo of the labels. Some medications change how you respond to exercise, to hands-on work or to dry needling, so your therapist reads the list before deciding what to do.
Imaging or physician notes, if you have them
An X-ray or MRI report, a surgical note, a discharge summary, a school evaluation or an early intervention report for a child. You do not need a referral to start physical therapy in Louisiana, and you do not need any of this either. If it exists, it saves your therapist a step.
Comfortable clothing you can move in
Wear something that lets your therapist reach the area being treated: loose pants or athletic shorts for a back, hip or knee problem, a short sleeved top for a neck or shoulder problem. For a child, whatever they are comfortable moving and playing in.
The intake paperwork itself is done here. Your contact details, your history, your consent forms and the privacy notice are completed with the front office when you arrive, which is why we ask you to come a few minutes early for a first appointment. If you would rather have it in hand beforehand, call and ask: the front office can send your paperwork ahead so you can read it at your own pace and bring it back completed. Either way it takes minutes, and either way your therapist has it before the evaluation begins. Sessions run 30 to 60 minutes, so those few minutes at the desk are worth protecting.
Want your paperwork before you arrive, or not sure what applies to your child? Call the front office at (337) 478-5880 → One line covers Lake Charles and Lafayette, or email frontoffice@hopetherapy.co.