Recording-consent workflow for the practice

Whose responsibility this is

Each clinician, not Fieldnote, is responsible for obtaining patient consent before recording. Fieldnote provides the in-app consent step, the audit-log entry, and a standardized script — but cannot verify in real time that the conversation actually happened. As administrator, your job is making sure every provider actually uses the script consistently.

Two-party consent states (US)

The following US states require all parties' consent to record a conversation, not just the clinician's (verify against current statutes before relying on this list, and re-verify per state before onboarding a tenant located there): California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington.

In these states — and everywhere else, since it's the product default regardless of jurisdiction — every provider must obtain the patient's verbal consent before recording is enabled. Consider posting the written consent notice in patient-facing areas as an additional safeguard in these states.

Rolling this out to your providers

1. Share the verbal consent script and the exact in-app consent statement with every provider before their first recorded visit.
2. Decide whether your practice also wants a posted or signed written notice (recommended in two-party consent states) and distribute it if so.
3. Confirm every provider understands: declining consent means falling back to the practice's normal, non-ambient documentation method — Fieldnote never records without the checkbox confirmed.
4. Periodically spot-check that the consent checkbox is being used consistently, not clicked through as a formality — it is a compliance control, not a speed bump.

If a patient withdraws consent

If withdrawn during the visit, the provider stops recording immediately and documents by non-ambient means from that point forward. If withdrawn after the visit but before the note is filed, the draft note and recording should be discarded per your practice's normal correction process. If withdrawn after the note is already filed, treat it as a patient request to the practice (as record custodian) and route it through your standard patient-request process.