Quick Reference — To reply to an open patient case

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When your patients send messages to providers using the Patient Portal, these messages appear in the Clinical Inbox as patient cases. You can reply to messages sent by patients from the Patient Portal by opening the patient case.

Note: Patients can attach files to the messages they send from the Patient Portal. When you reply to patient messages, however, you cannot add an attachment to the patient case. For more information, see To view secure message attachments sent by patients from the Patient Portal.

1. In the Clinical Inbox, click the linked number in the Patient Cases column.
   Note: Patient messages sent using the Patient Portal are in the PORTAL inbox row.
2. Click the patient case to open it in update mode.
3. Click VIEW ACTIONS at the bottom of the page.
4. If you are responding to a patient or caregiver message sent using the Patient Portal:
   1. Select Reply to Patient via Portal.
      Note: Leave the Source/Recipient field set to Patient Portal to ensure that your response is sent to the patient or caregiver as a message on the Patient Portal.
   2. Enter the text of your response in the Action Note field. This text is the message that the patient or caregiver will see on the Patient Portal.
      Note: To use a text macro in the Action Note field, type a period (".") followed by the beginning, or any part of, the shortcut name, then select the macro you need from the search results.
5. If you are responding to a message that was not sent from the Patient Portal (the Source/Recipient field is not set to Patient Portal):
   1. Select Reply to Sender.
   2. Enter the text of your response in the Action Note field.
      Note: To use a text macro in the Action Note field, type a period (".") followed by the beginning, or any part of, the shortcut name, then select the macro you need from the search results.
6. Click the Save button.
   The case is assigned to the user who performed the last action on the case.