Audience: Power-users building Structured Templates for themselves or their clinic.
Note: Structured Templates are a legacy template type. New users should generally prefer Learned Templates. This article is for builders who need the deterministic structure, fixed boilerplate, and per-subsection control that Structured Templates provide.
Overview
A Structured Template is an ordered list of subsections. Each subsection produces a chunk of the final note. There are three kinds:
Pre-defined subsections (Chief Complaints, HPI, Physical Examination, Assessment, Plan, etc.). Freed extracts the content from the transcript. You can adjust formatting, but not what is captured.
Custom Subsections. You write the extraction instructions yourself using a simple bracket-and-parentheses syntax. Use these when no pre-defined subsection captures what you need.
Fixed Text. Literal text that is inserted into the note exactly as written. The wording is never changed.
Subsections are grouped under four sections: Subjective, Objective, Assessment & Plan, and Patient Instructions. Section order in the final note follows the order in the Template Builder.
Per-subsection settings
Every subsection has the same set of UI controls in the Template Builder.
Setting | Values | Effect |
Enabled | on / off | Disabled subsections are excluded from the note. Use this to keep variants in one template and toggle them off. |
Header text | free text | Overrides the default heading (e.g., "History of Present Illness"). |
Header visibility | Always show / Show with content / Hide | Always show: the header appears even when the subsection is empty (useful for compliance forms). Show with content: the header only appears if there is content. Hide: the header never appears. |
Conciseness | Concise / Standard / Detailed | Controls output length. Applies to pre-defined and Custom Subsections; ignored for Fixed Text. |
Format | Paragraph / List | Output format for pre-defined and Custom Subsections; ignored for Fixed Text. |
Empty-subsection behavior: if a subsection produces no content, it is dropped from the note (header and all) unless it is a Fixed Text subsection or its header visibility is set to Always show.
Custom Subsection syntax
A Custom Subsection uses two simple markers:
Square brackets
[ ]describe what to capture from the transcript.Parentheses
( )describe how to format what was captured.
The standard pattern:
Heading (optional): [what to capture] (how to format it)
Example:
Family History: [patient's family medical history] (Only include if mentioned. Use commonly accepted abbreviations.)
How it works:
Each
[ ]+( )pair is replaced with the captured, formatted result. The brackets and parentheses themselves are removed.Anything outside
[ ]and( )is preserved as-is — including headings, line breaks, prefixes, and prose.A single subsection can have many bracket/parenthesis pairs — each is processed independently and substituted in place.
Multiple placeholders in one subsection:
Focused Physical Exam: General: [objective findings on general appearance] (If nothing noted, write "No acute distress.") Cardiovascular: [objective cardiac findings] (If nothing noted, write "Heart rate and rhythm are normal. No murmurs, gallops, or rubs.") Respiratory: [objective lung findings] (If nothing noted, write "No signs of respiratory distress.")
The labels ("Focused Physical Exam:", "General:", etc.) and the line breaks are preserved exactly. Only the bracketed and parenthesized regions are replaced.
Using brackets or parentheses as literal text
If you need a literal [, ], (, or ) inside a Custom Subsection, wrap the surrounding phrase in straight double quotes — quoted text is treated as plain content. Example:
Disposition: [follow-up plan] (Default: "Return as needed (PRN).")
In Fixed Text, brackets and parentheses are always literal — no quoting needed.
Verbatim text
Two mechanisms produce text that appears exactly as written.
Fixed Text — guaranteed verbatim
A Fixed Text subsection is the only mechanism that guarantees the wording will appear in the note exactly as written. Use it for:
Telehealth consent statements
Recording-and-transcription consent
LCD attestations and policy boilerplate
Signature blocks
Standing legal language
Example Fixed Text content:
Patient consented to the use of Freed to record and transcribe notes during this visit.
Quoted phrases inside a Custom Subsection
Inside a Custom Subsection, anything wrapped in straight double quotes "…" is treated as plain text. This lets you pin a verbatim default phrase next to a placeholder:
General: [objective findings on general appearance] (If nothing noted, write "No acute distress.")
The literal phrase No acute distress. is inserted exactly when the transcript is silent on that finding.
Caveat: the default-phrase pattern is best-effort. For wording that must appear under a specific condition, use Fixed Text or build a separate template instead. See Common patterns below.
System variables
Freed exposes a small set of system-injected variables usable inside Fixed Text and Custom Subsection content. These are not user-defined; they are populated by the platform at note-generation time. Examples: patient name, patient age, clinician name, etc. You cannot define your own variables.
Common patterns
Real templates often need conditional behavior, defaults, toggles, and similar patterns. The following recipes cover the situations builders ask about most often.
Default text when information is absent
Use the bracket/parenthesis syntax with a quoted default inside the parentheses:
[what to capture] (If nothing noted in the transcript, write "DEFAULT PHRASE.")
Example:
Cardiovascular: [objective cardiac findings] (If nothing noted, write "Heart rate and rhythm are normal. No murmurs, gallops, or rubs.")
For wording that must appear exactly, prefer Fixed Text.
Include only when relevant
Add a natural-language condition inside the parentheses:
Family History: [patient's family medical history] (Only include if mentioned. Use acronyms.)
When nothing in the transcript matches, the subsection produces no content and is dropped from the note. Set Header visibility to Show with content so the heading drops as well.
Conditional boilerplate (LCD-driven verbiage)
A common requirement: a specific LCD attestation must appear when the visit meets certain conditions (e.g., billed at a particular E/M level, certain ICD-10 present, modifier 25 used).
Recommended approach — separate templates per scenario:
Build one template that includes the LCD attestation as a Fixed Text subsection.
Build a second template without that Fixed Text subsection.
The clinician selects the appropriate template at the start of the encounter (or before regenerating the note).
This produces deterministic, audit-friendly output: the attestation is guaranteed verbatim when present, and unambiguously absent otherwise.
Alternative — always-present, manual delete: include the LCD verbiage as Fixed Text in your standard template; the clinician removes it on encounters where it doesn't apply. Less elegant, but compliance-safe.
Pertinent positives and pertinent negatives
Use two adjacent placeholders with explicit format instructions:
Review of Systems: Pertinent positives: [symptoms the patient reports] (one per line, prefix "Reports: ". If none, write "None.") Pertinent negatives: [symptoms the patient denies] (one per line, prefix "Denies: ". If none, write "None.")
Custom fields not covered by pre-defined subsections
Use a Custom Subsection placeholder to describe the field:
Insurance Verified: [insurance carrier verified at check-in] (Format as: "Verified with {carrier} on {date}." If not mentioned, write "Not verified during this visit.")For values that should appear on every note (e.g., clinic phone number), put them in Fixed Text.
Restating context across sections
Each subsection is built independently. If a detail in the Subjective should also influence the Plan, restate the instruction in both subsections, or combine the related capture into a single Custom Subsection that produces both halves of the output.
Lists and per-item formatting
Describe the list format inside the parentheses. Freed handles the iteration:
Medications: [each current medication] (One per line. Format as: "{name} {dose} {route} {frequency}".)
Best practices
One concept per Custom Subsection. Smaller subsections are easier to debug and rerun than one mega-prompt.
Three to four instructions per subsection, max. Long, dense prompts produce inconsistent output.
Anchor literal labels outside the brackets. Put headings, prefixes ("Subjective:", "Per the patient:"), and structural punctuation in plain text. Reserve
[ ]for variable content only.Use Fixed Text for anything that must be exact. If the wording can be paraphrased without compliance risk, a quoted default inside
( )is fine. Otherwise use Fixed Text.Use Always show for required-but-may-be-empty audit fields. The header renders even when no content was captured.
Test against a realistic transcript after every change. Generate a note from a representative recording (or paste a sample transcript) and inspect each subsection. Iterate on one subsection at a time.
Prefer separate templates for LCD or billing scenarios. Selecting the right template up front is more deterministic and auditable than embedding conditions in a single template.
Quote literal phrases that contain reserved characters. If your boilerplate naturally contains parentheses or brackets, wrap the phrase in straight double quotes inside a Custom Subsection — or put it in Fixed Text.
Worked examples
Example 1 — Telehealth consent (Fixed Text)
Subsection type: Fixed Text
Header visibility: Hide
Content:
Patient provided verbal consent for this telehealth encounter and confirmed their identity and current location. Patient was advised of the risks, benefits, and limitations of telehealth, and the use of Freed to record and transcribe this visit, and agreed to proceed.
Behavior: rendered exactly as written on every note. The wording is never changed.
Example 2 — HPI with format directives (Custom Subsection)
Subsection type: Custom Subsection
Header text: History of Present Illness
Format: Paragraph
Content:
[narrative of the presenting complaint, including onset, duration, character, location, severity, modifying factors, associated symptoms, and pertinent context] (Single paragraph. Use third person and past tense. Avoid direct quotes from the patient. Use commonly accepted abbreviations.)
Example 3 — Physical Exam with default-normal findings
Subsection type: Custom Subsection
Header text: Physical Examination
Content:
General: [objective findings on general appearance] (If nothing noted, write "No acute distress.") HEENT: [objective head/eyes/ears/nose/throat findings] (If nothing noted, write "Normocephalic, atraumatic. PERRL. Oropharynx clear.") Cardiovascular: [objective cardiac findings] (If nothing noted, write "Regular rate and rhythm. No murmurs, gallops, or rubs.") Respiratory: [objective lung findings] (If nothing noted, write "Clear to auscultation bilaterally. No respiratory distress.")
Example 4 — Pertinent positives and negatives
Review of Systems: Pertinent positives: [symptoms the patient reports] (one per line, prefix "Reports: ". If none mentioned, write "None.") Pertinent negatives: [symptoms the patient denies] (one per line, prefix "Denies: ". If none mentioned, write "None.")
Example 5 — LCD attestation via separate templates
Setup: the practice bills colorectal cancer screening counseling. The LCD requires a specific shared-decision-making attestation when the counseling is delivered.
Setup:
Template Annual Visit — CRC Counseling: includes a Fixed Text subsection containing the verbatim LCD attestation.
Template Annual Visit — No CRC Counseling: identical, but without the Fixed Text subsection.
The clinician selects the appropriate template based on what was actually delivered.
The attestation appears verbatim when present, and is unambiguously absent otherwise.
Quick reference
You want… | Use… |
Verbatim text, always present | Fixed Text subsection |
Verbatim text, present only on certain visits | Separate templates (one with the Fixed Text, one without) |
Captured content with format guidance | Custom Subsection: |
Default phrase when nothing is captured |
|
A section heading that always appears | Header visibility = Always show |
A section that disappears if empty | Header visibility = Show with content |
A custom field not covered by pre-defined subsections | Custom Subsection placeholder describing the field |
Different content based on visit type or billing scenario | Build separate templates and select the right one per encounter |
Get support
Custom Subsections are an advanced feature. Freed's support team can offer syntax guidance based on this article, but cannot author prompts on your behalf or guarantee a particular output.
Click the Help icon at the bottom-left of your Freed page and select Chat with Support.
Email [email protected].
If you're interested in using Freed as a group, talk with our sales team.