Quick Reference — To register a patient for the Patient Portal or Patient Information Center in the office

athenaCommunicator

 

You can register patients and their family members for the Patient Portal or the Patient Information Center while the patient is in the office from the Quickview, Check-in, Checkout, and Patient Registration pages.

Note: The starting point for the registration workflow is slightly different on the Checkout and Patient Registration pages. The instructions on this page begin on the Quickview or Check-in page.

 

Important: To comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), patients under the age of 13 cannot create self-registered Patient Portal accounts, and you cannot register or invite new Patient Portal users under the age of 13.

 

Practice users (including clinical providers) can register a patient or family member as follows:

  • From a practice computer.
  • From a kiosk (a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer set up for this task).
  • Using the patient's smartphone (iPhone or Android device).
    Note: The smartphone option is not available when registering a patient for the Patient Information Center.
  • By sending an invitation email to the patient's registered email address in athenaOne.

Practice users can register patients for the Patient Portal at any stage of the patient encounter. A dedicated practice user can also help patients register for the Patient Portal before check-in.

Important: Register your patients (or their family members) in the office to increase the likelihood that you will meet quality program measures.

 

 

E‑statement notifications, message notifications, and test result notifications are all sent to the patient via email. Patients will not know that they have a message waiting for them on the Patient Portal if they do not have an email account. The use of email helps ensure that the patient or family member receives proper notification from the practice.

 

 

 

Important: To comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), patients under the age of 13 cannot create self-registered Patient Portal accounts, and you cannot register or invite new Patient Portal users under the age of 13.

 

You can use the Quick Registration functionality to allow patients and their family members to sign up for the Patient Portal from athenaOne.

 

Important: If a patient's family member is creating a Patient Portal account (for example, the parent of a young child), do not enter the family member's email address in the Portal email field for the patient. If the patient does not have an email address, select the No email option.

 

To start the Quick Registration process:

  1. On the Quickview or Check-in page, scroll down to the Contact List & People with Portal Access section and click Add Contact Person and Grant Portal Access.
    The Add contact window opens.
  2. Click The Patient or Not the Patient to indicate whether the Patient Portal account owner is the patient or another person (a family member or caregiver, for example). If the patient already has a Patient Portal account, these options do not appear; the new contact that you are creating is assumed to be "not the patient."
    Note: If your practice does not use family access, the Not the Patient option does not appear.
  3. You can click Pre-fill fields using the chart contact details to fill in fields — such as address and phone number fields — that exist already in the patient chart. This option is especially useful for parents and guardians of minor children.
  4. Contact person is the patient's — Specify the relationship of the new contact to the patient by selecting an option from the menu, for example, Mother, Spouse, Child, Grandparent, or Caretaker.
  5. Email — Enter the email address for the patient or contact. You must enter an email address to create a Patient Portal account.
  6. Legal first name — Enter the legal first name of the patient or contact.
  7. Legal last name — Enter the legal last name of the patient or contact.
  8. Contact type — Select Portal Access or NO portal Access.
  9. The following field appears when you select Portal Access:
    Portal & messaging access level — Select Full Access or Billing Only.
    • Full Access — Patient Portal user has full access to a patient record that is not his own. Full access is used in a family access scenario, such as when a mother has a Patient Portal account and accesses her child's patient record. (The Patient Portal user does not need to be a patient at your practice.)
    • Billing Only — Patient Portal user has billing-only access to a patient record that is not her own. A Patient Portal user with billing-only access can see only billing information, not health information. An example of this type of access is when a parent is the Patient Portal user with billing-only access to the patient record of a 20-year-old child.
  10. Mobile phone — Enter the mobile phone number of the patient or contact, or select the No mobile phone option.
  11. Home phone — If you entered a mobile phone number, this field defaults to Same as mobile, but you can enter a different home phone number in this field.
    Note: If you selected the No mobile phone option in the Mobile phone field, you must enter a phone number in the Home phone field.
  12. Work phone — You can enter a work phone number in this field, if you choose.
  13. Address line 1 — Enter the first line of the contact's address. If you need a second line, use the Address line 2 field.
  14. Zip — Enter the contact's 5-digit ZIP code. The ZIP code populates the City and State fields from the athenahealth ZIP code database. (If you find an error, please contact the CSC by selecting Support > Create Case or Call in the Main Menu.)
  15. City — Enter the contact's city.
  16. State — Enter the contact's state.
    Note: You can click the Verify address option below the State field to validate the address that you entered (you must first enter the address and either the ZIP code or the city and state).
  17. After you enter all required contact information, click Save and Go To Portal Registration.
    The Choose Portal Registration Method window opens.
  18. Click Register With This Computer.
    A message appears about your responsibility for verifying the patient's or family member's identity.
  19. Click Continue.
  20. You are logged out of athenaOne, and the Create new password page appears.
  21. Allow the patient or family member to use the device that the practice user was using.
    1. The patient or family member confirms the email address and types in a Patient Portal password on the Create new password page. This password must be 8-20 characters long and must have at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one number or symbol.
    2. The patient or family member checks the box to accept the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy and then clicks Create account.
      The Patient Portal home page appears.
  22. When the patient or family member signs out of the Patient Portal, the athenaOne login page appears.
  23. You log back in to athenaOne and are returned to the Check-in workflow.

 

 

You can set up a computer (desktop, laptop, or tablet) in your office to allow patients and family members to register for the Patient Portal or Patient Information Center while the patient is at the practice. From the Quickview or Check-in page, practice staff generate temporary passwords, which they give to the patient or family member; the patient enters this password on the login page set up on the kiosk computer to register for the Patient Portal or Patient Information Center. (These temporary passwords are case sensitive.)

Note: Generate temporary passwords while the patient is in the office, not over the phone.

 

 

To enhance the security of the kiosk workflow, athenahealth provides you with a unique URL, which enables an automatic timeout of a Patient Portal or Patient Information Center login after 3 minutes. Also, a large Signout button is displayed on the kiosk screen so that your patients and their family members can easily sign out after they register for the Patient Portal or Patient Information Center and explore it.

 

 

 

To use the kiosk registration feature, you must set up a kiosk (desktop, laptop, or tablet computer) in your office and then call the CSC to enable this feature. After the CSC enables the feature for you:

  1. Open a Web browser, such as Chrome or Safari, on the kiosk device, and enter one of the following URLs:
    • If your practice does not use the Communicator Brands feature, enter "https://CONTEXTID.portal.athenahealth.com/?section=kiosk", where CONTEXTID = your practice ID.
    • If your practice uses the Communicator Brands feature, enter
      "https://CONTEXTID-BRANDID.portal.athenahealth.com/?section=kiosk", where CONTEXTID = your practice ID and BRANDID = your brand ID.
      Note: To find your brand ID, display the Communicator Brands page: On the Main Menu, click Settings > Communicator. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Communicator, click Brands.
  2. Bookmark this URL, and make it the home page of the browser on the device.
  3. Make sure that you turn the device on and open the browser every morning.

 

 

Important: When you start the kiosk registration process, advise patients that they must complete their registration and create a new password within 2 hours or the password will expire.

  1. On your computer (not the kiosk device) display the Quickview or Check-in page for the patient.
  2. On the Quickview or Check-in page, scroll down to the Contact Details & People with Portal Access section and click Add Contact Person and Grant Portal Access.
    The Add contact window opens.
  3. Click The Patient or Not the Patient to indicate whether the Patient Portal or PIC account owner is the patient or another person (a family member or caregiver, for example). If the patient already has a Patient Portal account, these options do not appear; the new contact that you are creating is assumed to be "not the patient."
    Note: If your practice does not use family access, the Not the Patient option does not appear.
  4. You can click Pre-fill fields using the chart contact details to fill in fields — such as address and phone number fields — that exist already in the patient chart. This option is especially useful for parents and guardians of minor children.
  5. After you enter all required contact information, click Save and Go To Portal Registration.
    The Choose Portal Registration Method window opens.
  6. Click Register With Kiosk.
    athenaOne generates a temporary password on your computer screen.
  7. Write down this password and give it to the patient or family member (this password is case sensitive).
    Note: The temporary password that you generate for kiosk registration is valid for 2 hours.

 

  1. Go to the kiosk that's set up for Patient Portal or Patient Information Center registration.
  2. On the landing page, tap .
  3. Enter your email address and the temporary password given to you by the practice staff and then tap Log In.
  4. On the Security update page, tap Continue.
    The Choose your security option page appears.
    Note: For detailed instructions about creating your account, see To create a new Patient Portal account from a notification email. The steps are summarized here.
  5. Select your security option and then verify access to your patient record.
  6. Create a permanent Patient Portal or Patient Information Center password.
    1. Enter the temporary password in the Current password field.
    2. Enter your permanent password in the New password fields.
      This password must be 8-20 characters long and must have at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one number or symbol.
  7. On the All set page, tap Continue.
    The Patient Portal or Patient Information Center home page appears. You are now registered.

 

 

 

Important: To comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), patients under the age of 13 cannot create self-registered Patient Portal accounts, and you cannot register or invite new Patient Portal users under the age of 13.

 

Patients and family members can sign up for the Patient Portal as part of the check-in process, as long as they have an email address and a smartphone (iPhone or Android device).

Note: This option is available only when registering for the Patient Portal; you cannot use a patient's smartphone to register for the Patient Information Center.

 

 

Important: When you start the mobile registration process, advise patients that they must complete their registration and create a new password within 6 hours or the temporary password will expire.

  1. On the Quickview or Check-in page, scroll down to the Contact Details & People with Portal Access section and click Add Contact Person and Grant Portal Access.
    The Add contact window opens.
  2. Click The Patient or Not the Patient to indicate whether the Patient Portal or PIC account owner is the patient or another person (a family member or caregiver, for example). If the patient already has a Patient Portal account, these options do not appear; the new contact that you are creating is assumed to be "not the patient."
    Note: If your practice does not use family access, the Not the Patient option does not appear.
  3. You can click Pre-fill fields using the chart contact details to fill in fields — such as address and phone number fields — that exist already in the patient chart. This option is especially useful for parents and guardians of minor children.
  4. After you enter all required contact information, click Save and Go To Portal Registration.
    The Choose Portal Registration Method window opens.
  5. Click Register With Smartphone.
    After you click this button, athenaOne:
    • Sends a text message to the mobile phone number with a secure link to access the Patient Portal.
    • Generates a temporary password on your computer.
  6. Write down the temporary password and give it to the patient or family member.
    Note: The temporary password that you generate for smartphone registration is valid for 6 hours.

 

  1. When you receive the text message, open it and then tap the link to the Patient Portal in the text message.
  2. On the Patient Portal page, tap .
  3. Enter your email address and the temporary password given to you by the practice staff and then tap Log In.
  4. On the Security update page, tap Continue.
    The Choose your security option page appears.
    Note: For detailed instructions about creating your Patient Portal account, see To create a new Patient Portal account from a notification email. The steps are summarized here.
  5. Select your security option and then verify access to your patient record.
  6. Create a permanent Patient Portal password. Enter the temporary password in the Current password field and then enter your permanent password in the New password fields.
    This password must be 8-20 characters long and must have at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one number or symbol.
  7. On the All set page, tap Continue.
    The mobile Patient Portal home page appears. You are now registered for the Patient Portal.

 

 

 

During a patient encounter, you can send an email invitation for the Patient Portal or Patient Information Center on the Intake and Exam tabs.

  1. In the banner at the top of the Intake and Exam page, click Manage Portal Account.
    The Register Patient or Register Family Member page appears.
  2. Confirm or enter the email address, home phone number, and mobile phone number for the patient.
  3. Click Send Email Invitation.
    The patient will receive an email containing the Patient Portal or Patient Information Center registration link at the email address given during registration.