Portal Settings

athenaCommunicator

This page allows you to view the settings for your Patient Portal or Patient Information Center. The settings on this page can be configured at the practice and brand levels (if your practice uses the athenaCommunicator Brands feature). To update the settings on this page, please contact the CSC from athenaOne > Support > Success Community > Contact Client Support Center.

Step-by-step instructions

To view your Patient Portal or Patient Information Center settings

Patient Portal settings apply at the practice and brand levels (if your practice uses the athenaCommunicator Brands feature), but not at the department or provider level. To access this page, you must have the Communicator Admin or Communicator: Portal Settings View permission.

Display the Portal Settings page: On the Main Menu, click Settings > Communicator. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Patient Portal, click Portal Settings.
For practices using athenaClinicals and the PIC: On the Main Menu, click Settings > Clinicals. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Other, click Portal Settings.

The Portal Settings page displays the practice-wide settings by default.

Brand or practice — If your practice uses the athenaCommunicator Brands feature, you can view the settings for the practice or a brand by selecting the brand or practice name from the menu.
Under Portal type, the Current portal type field displays the type of Patient Portal or Patient Information Center configured for your practice or the selected brand.

Full Portal — The practice or brand is configured with a full Patient Portal.
PIC — The practice or brand is configured with a Patient Information Center (PIC). This configuration is for athenaClinicals practices that do not use athenaCommunicator.
Off — The practice or brand does not have a Patient Portal or Patient Information Center.
Inherit — This option appears only if you review settings at the brand level; this type indicates that the brand-level portal type is the same as the practice-level portal type.

Review the rest of the settings for the practice or the selected brand. For a list of settings and descriptions, see the Field Reference.
Note: To update the settings on this page, please contact the CSC from athenaOne > Support > Success Community > Contact Client Support Center.

Field Reference

Portal type settings

Field Name

Description

Current portal type

This field displays the type of Patient Portal or Patient Information Center configured for your practice or the selected brand (if you use the athenaCommunicator Brands feature).

Full Portal — The practice or brand is configured with a Patient Portal.
PIC — The practice or brand is configured with a Patient Information Center (PIC). This configuration is for athenaClinicals practices that do not use athenaCommunicator.
Off — The practice or brand does not have a Patient Portal or Patient Information Center.
Inherit — This option appears only if you review settings at the brand level; this type indicates that the brand-level portal type is the same as the practice-level portal type.

General settings

Field Name	Description
Patient Portal label	This field determines how the Patient Portal website refers to itself on the site. For example, if Seven Hills Medical Group labels its Patient Portal as "Seven Hills Patient Portal," the welcome message says, "Welcome to the Seven Hills Patient Portal."
Sign-in page message	This message appears at the bottom of the Patient Portal sign-in page to describe to patients what they can do on the Patient Portal and give them additional information. Including this message on your Patient Portal is optional.
Directions to the office	The Patient Portal connects with Google maps to give patients directions to your office. Included — Directions to your office are enabled for your Patient Portal. Excluded — Directions to your office are disabled for your Patient Portal.
Mobile Portal	As part of the athenaCommunicator service, athenahealth offers a mobile-optimized Patient Portal to improve your patients' experience using the Patient Portal on their smartphones. Included — The mobile Patient Portal is enabled. Excluded — The mobile Patient Portal is disabled.
Ensure settings are MU-compliant	For practices enrolled in quality programs such as MIPS or PI, a script runs weekly to automatically enable Patient Portal settings that are necessary for practices to pass certain quality measures. The Ensure settings are MU-compliant option controls the automatic running of this script at the brand and practice level. Enabled — The Patient Portal settings are automatically adjusted to help the practice or the selected brand meet certain measures for the MIPS, PI, or other quality program. Disabled — The Patient Portal settings for the practice or the selected brand are not automatically adjusted for quality measures.

Registration settings

Field Name	Description
Patient registration	This field determines whether new and existing patients can register for the Patient Portal without an invitation from your practice or brand. Patient registration allowed — Existing patients can register for a Patient Portal account directly on the Patient Portal site without an invitation from your practice or brand. Patient registration not allowed — Your practice must invite patients to create a Patient Portal account. The invitation includes a link to your Patient Portal site. New patient registration allowed — Patients who are not already registered in your practice can create a Patient Portal account directly on the Patient Portal site and register as new patients at your practice via the Patient Portal. New patient registration not allowed — Patients who are not already registered in your practice cannot create a Patient Portal account directly on the Patient Portal site. These patients must contact your practice.
Welcome message	When your patients create a Patient Portal account, athenaOne can send a secure welcome message to their Inbox. The patient sees this message the first time that they sign in to the Patient Portal. If this field is set to Included, the welcome message is displayed. Included — athenaOne sends a secure welcome message to your patients when they create a Patient Portal account. Excluded — athenaOne does not send a secure welcome message to your patients when they create a Patient Portal account.
Subject	This field displays the text that appears in the Subject: line of the email message sent to patients after they create a Patient Portal account.
Message	This field displays the text that appears in the body of the email message sent to patients after they create a Patient Portal account.

Appointments settings

Field Name	Description
Appointments section	This field shows the status (Enabled or Disabled) of the Appointments section on your Patient Portal. Enabled — The Appointments section is enabled for your Patient Portal. Disabled — The Appointments section is disabled for your Patient Portal.
Upcoming appointments	This field shows the status (Shown or Hidden) of future appointments on your Patient Portal. Shown — Your Patient Portal displays the patient's upcoming appointments. Hidden — Your Patient Portal does not display the patient's upcoming appointments.
Recommended appointments (ticklers)	This field shows the status (Shown or Hidden) of recommended appointments (appointment ticklers) on your Patient Portal. Shown — Your Patient Portal displays appointments recommended by the patient's provider. Hidden — Your Patient Portal does not display appointments recommended by the patient's provider.
Surface phone number on appointments page	This field controls whether your practice phone number appears in appointment-related messages that patients see on the Patient Portal. When this field is set to Shown, the practice phone number appears in these patient messages: Message that indicates that a practice does not have Web scheduling enabled Message that tells patients that they cannot cancel an appointment Message that tells tells patients that they cannot reschedule an appointment To remove the practice phone number from these messages, please contact the CSC from athenaOne > Support > Success Community > Contact Client Support Center.

Messages settings

Field Name	Description
Messages section	The Patient Portal gives patients a secure message platform to communicate with their provider. Enabled — Patients can send secure messages to their providers via your Patient Portal. Disabled — Patients cannot send secure messages to their providers via your Patient Portal. Note: If any providers in the practice or brand are attesting for MIPS, PI, or other quality programs, this section must be enabled.
Messages section introduction	This field displays the introductory message that appears at the top of the Messages / Inbox page. Note: The time frame provided in this message should be consistent with the time frame provided in the Compose message page introduction field and the Sent message confirmation field so that patients know when they can expect to hear back from your practice.
Compose message page introduction	This field displays the introductory message that appears at the top of the Messages / Compose Message page. Note: The time frame provided in this message should be consistent with the time frame provided in the Messages section introduction field and the Sent message confirmation field so that patients know when they can expect to hear back from your practice.
Sent message confirmation	This field displays the message that appears in the pop-up box when a patient sends a secure message to a provider via the Patient Portal. This message confirms that the patient's message was sent and indicates when they can expect to receive a response. Note: The time frame provided in this message should be consistent with the time frame provided in the Messages section introduction field and the Compose message page introduction field so that patients know when they can expect to hear back from your practice.
Patient-to-office messaging	This setting determines whether patients can initiate messages to your practice or only respond to messages from your practice. Allowed — Patients can initiate messages to your practice via the Patient Portal. Not allowed — Patients can only reply to messages from your practice via the Patient Portal.
Message types	This field displays the types of messages patients can send to your providers via your Patient Portal. As a best practice, athenahealth recommends that all message types be enabled. Appointments and scheduling (Appointment Request in athenaOne) Billing and payments (Patient Case - Statement or Billing Question in athenaOne) Insurance (Patient Case - Statement or Billing Question in athenaOne) Medical question (Patient Case - Clinical Question in athenaOne) My profile (Patient Case - Administrative in athenaOne) Other (Patient Case - Other in athenaOne) Prescriptions and refills (Patient Case - Refill in athenaOne) If any providers in the practice or brand are attesting for MIPS, PI, or other quality programs, the following message types must be enabled: Medical question My profile Prescriptions and refills
Provider-based message routing	This field specifies whether patients can select a provider when they send a secure message via the Patient Portal. This setting improves the routing of patient messages. Note: As a best practice, athenahealth sets Provider-based message routing to Allowed by default. Allowed — Patients can select the relevant provider when sending a secure message via your Patient Portal. Not allowed — Patients cannot select a provider when sending a secure message via your Patient Portal.
Test results in secure message	When a provider at your practice sends a test result to the Patient Portal, athenaOne sends a message to notify the patient that a test result is available for review on the Patient Portal. This setting determines whether the ResultsCall secure message on the Patient Portal includes the test results and images. Enabled — The ResultsCall secure message on your Patient Portal includes patients' test results and images. Disabled — The ResultsCall secure message on your Patient Portal does not include patients' test results and images. To see the test results, patients must display the My Health / Test Results page on the Patient Portal.
ResultsCall portal message patient replies	Your Patient Portal can be configured so that patients can reply to ResultsCall secure messages via the Patient Portal. Allowed — Patients can reply to ResultsCall secure messages via your Patient Portal. Not allowed — Patients cannot reply to ResultsCall secure messages via your Patient Portal.

My Health settings

Field Name	Description
My Health section	The Patient Portal is a secure platform for patients to review, download, and transfer their medical information and health history. Most clinical content on the Patient Portal is stored in the My Health section. Enabled — The My Health section is enabled for your Patient Portal. Disabled — The My Health section is disabled for your Patient Portal. Note: If any providers in the practice or brand are attesting for MIPS, PI, or other quality programs, this section must be enabled.
Section title	This field displays the title that appears at the top of the My Health section.
My Health section introduction	This field displays the introductory message that appears at the top of the Medications, Care Summaries, Vitals, and Health Summary pages of the My Health section.
Health Summary	The Health Summary shows an overview of the health information in their chart(s). This includes information from all charts that are associated with the communicator brand. Users can see the most recent activity at-a-glance beneath each category. Note: If you disable all categories on this page, the Health Summary does not show on the Patient Portal. Allergies Care team Conditions Procedures Social history Vaccinations
Test results section	Your practice can use ResultsCall to direct patients to retrieve their test results on the Patient Portal. If your practice uses ResultsCall, this section must be enabled so that patients can retrieve their test results on your Patient Portal. Note: As a best practice, athenahealth enables this section by default. Enabled — Patients can retrieve their test results on your Patient Portal. Disabled — Patients cannot retrieve their test results on your Patient Portal. Note: For each test result, your providers can decide whether to send the result to your Patient Portal.
Visit Notes section	When your practice has this feature enabled, your patients’ visit-related documents are automatically published to the to Visit Notes section in the Patient Portal. Important: This is an opt-in feature at the department level. To enable it for your organization, contact the CSC. On the Main Menu, click Support > Success Community > Contact Client Support Center.
Vitals	Patients can use this section to track critical health information over time, in both graph and table views. This field determines which of the following vitals appear on your Patient Portal: Blood pressure BMI Cholesterol Coumadin (INR) Diabetes (A1C) Weight Medications Request refill button Pharmacy address Care summaries Patient learning materials
Enable interactive fields	This field controls the display of the Tobacco History page on your Patient Portal. This field is enabled by default. Note: If any providers in the practice or brand are attesting for MIPS, PI, or other quality programs, this option must be enabled. Enabled — Patients can review and edit information on the My Health / Tobacco History page of the Patient Portal. Disabled — The Tobacco History page does not appear in the My Health section of the Patient Portal.
Download	This field displays the status of the Download function on your Patient Portal. Note: If any providers in the practice or brand are attesting for MIPS, PI, or other quality programs, the Download function must be enabled. Enabled — Patients can download their health data from your Patient Portal. Disabled — Patient cannot download their health data from your Patient Portal.
Transmit via Email	This field displays the status of the Transmit via Email function on your Patient Portal. Note: If any providers in the practice or brand are attesting for MIPS, PI, or other quality programs, the Transmit via Email function must be enabled. Enabled — Patients can transmit their health records via email from your Patient Portal. Disabled — Patients cannot transmit their health records via email from your Patient Portal.
Transmit via Direct	This field displays the status of the Transmit via Direct function on your Patient Portal. Note: If any providers in the practice or brand are attesting for MIPS, PI, or other quality programs, the Transmit via Direct function must be enabled. Enabled — Patients can transmit their health records via Direct Messaging from your Patient Portal. Disabled — Patients cannot transmit their health records via Direct Messaging from your Patient Portal.

Billing settings

Field Name	Description
Billing section	The Patient Portal gives patients a secure platform to pay their account balances online. This field displays the status of the Billing section of the Patient Portal. As a best practice, athenahealth enables this section by default. Enabled — Patients can pay their account balances on your Patient Portal. Disabled — Patients cannot pay their account balances on your Patient Portal.
Billing introductory message	This field displays the introductory message that appears at the top of the pages in the Billing section.
Charge details	This setting determines whether patients can click a charge to see additional information about the charge. Shown — Patients can click a charge to see additional information. Hidden — Patients cannot click a charge to see additional information.
Collections balance	This setting determines whether balances that your practice has sent to a collection agency appear on your Patient Portal. Shown — Balances sent to a collection agency appear on your Patient Portal. Hidden — Balances sent to a collection agency do not appear on your Patient Portal.
ePayment receipts	This setting determines whether electronic payment receipts appear on your Patient Portal. Shown — Electronic payment receipts appear on your Patient Portal. Hidden — Electronic payment receipts do not appear on your Patient Portal.
Payment instructions	If your Patient Portal does not accept credit card payments (set using the Credit card payments field), this message tells patients how they can pay their account balances.
Credit card payments	This field indicates whether your Patient Portal can accept online credit card payments, based on whether your practice uses Credit Card Plus. Enabled — Patients can pay their account balances on your Patient Portal with a credit card. Disabled — Patients cannot pay their account balances on your Patient Portal with a credit card.

My Profile settings

Field Name	Description
Section title	This field displays the title that appears at the top of the My Profile section of your Patient Portal.
My Profile introductory message	This field displays the introductory message that appears in the My Profile section.
Insurance section
Insurance page	The Patient Portal can display patients' insurance information in the My Profile section of your Patient Portal. Shown — Patients can review their insurance information on your Patient Portal. Hidden — Patients cannot review their insurance information on your Patient Portal.
Page title	This field displays the title that appears at the top of the Insurance page in the My Profile section of your Patient Portal. This field appears only if the Insurance page field is set to Shown.
Insurance introductory message	This field displays the introductory message that appears at the top of the Insurance page in the My Profile section of your Patient Portal. This field appears only if the Insurance page field is set to Shown.
Insurance card image	This field specifies whether the patient's insurance card image appears on the Insurance page in the My Profile section of your Patient Portal. This field appears only if the Insurance page field is set to Shown. Shown — Patients can see the scanned insurance card image that your practice has on file in athenaOne. Hidden — Patients cannot see the scanned insurance card image that your practice has on file in athenaOne.
Contact Information section
Patient photo	The Patient Portal can display patient photos that your practice has on file in athenaOne. Shown — Your Patient Portal displays the patient's photo. Hidden — Your Patient Portal does not display the patient's photo.
Family access page (Guarantor mapping)	Patients can give their family members access to their own Patient Portal accounts so that family members can help the patient with their healthcare and payments. This field displays the status of the Family Access page on your Patient Portal. Shown — Your Patient Portal displays the Family Access page in the My Profile section. Hidden — Your Patient Portal does not display the Family Access page.
Contact preferences	athenahealth uses ReminderCall, ResultsCall, GroupCall, and Self-Pay reminder messages to communicate important information to your patients. Patients can customize their message settings on the My Profile / My Notifications page. Shown — Your Patient Portal displays the My Notifications page. Hidden — Your Patient Portal does not display the My Notifications page.
Guarantor information	Patients can edit their guarantor billing information on the Patient Portal. This field displays the status of the guarantor information on the My Profile page of your Patient Portal. Editable — Patients can edit their guarantor billing information. Read-only — Patients cannot edit their guarantor billing information.

Tasks and Tools settings

Field Name	Description
Tasks and Tools section, now under the My Health section in the Patient Portal.	Important: There is no longer a specific Tasks and Tools section on the Patient Portal itself. With the release of the refreshed Patient Portal experience, the items in Tasks and Tools now appear in the My Health section. However, the Portal Settings page still includes Tasks and Tools settings. If you disable the Tasks and Tools section on the Portal Settings page, the subsequent items in the My Health section on the Patient Portal will not work. This section enables patients to view health reminders, learning materials, and the Blue Button upload links on your Patient Portal. Enabled — Corresponding items in the My Health section are enabled for your Patient Portal. Disabled — Corresponding items in the My Health section are disabled for your Patient Portal.
Activity log	The activity log makes it possible for patients to view a history of their activity on your Patient Portal. The activity log is available on the Tasks and Tools / Portal Activity page. Note: If any providers in the practice or brand are attesting for MIPS, PI, or other quality programs, the Activity log function must be enabled. Enabled — The activity log is enabled for your Patient Portal. Disabled — The activity log is disabled for your Patient Portal.
Blue Button upload links	The Veterans Administration (VA) and Medicare developed Blue Button to give veterans and Medicare recipients direct access to their medical records. For more information, see the Patient Portal Blue Button Initiative page. Enabled — Veterans and Medicare recipients can download their records from the VA and Medicare and then upload this information to their account on your Patient Portal. Disabled — Veterans and Medicare recipients cannot upload their VA and Medicare data to their account on your Patient Portal.
Patient forms	Your practice can use the Patient Portal to post forms for patients to print and sign, or to sign electronically. These forms appear on the Appointments / Medical Forms page of the Patient Portal. Shown — The Patient Forms section appears on your Patient Portal. Hidden — The Patient Forms section does not appear on your Patient Portal.
Patient forms section title	This field appears only if the Patient forms field is set to Shown. This field displays the title that appears at the top of the Patient Forms section. (The default section title is "Medical Forms.")
Patient forms introductory message	This field appears only if the Patient forms field is set to Shown. This field displays the introductory message that appears at the top of the Patient Forms section.

Footer settings

Field Name	Description
Portal Feedback page	This field displays the status of the Feedback link that appears at the bottom of every page on the Patient Portal. Enabled — Patients can click the Feedback link in the footer of any page on the Patient Portal to send a message to the practice. Disabled — Your Patient Portal does not display the Feedback link in the footer of Patient Portal pages.
Legal section
Terms and Conditions	This field displays the status (Enabled or Disabled) of the Terms and Conditions link in the footer of each Patient Portal page. If this field is set to Enabled, the text of the Patient Portal Terms and Conditions is displayed below this field. Enabled — Patients can click the Terms and Conditions link in the footer of any page on the Patient Portal to display the terms and conditions. Disabled — Your Patient Portal does not display a link to the Terms and Conditions in the footer.
Privacy Practice	This field displays the status (Enabled or Disabled) of the Privacy Practice link in the footer of each Patient Portal page. If this field is set to Enabled, the text of the Patient Portal Privacy Practice page is displayed below this field. Note: You can ask the CSC to customize this policy for your practice; otherwise, this field defaults to the athenahealth Patient Portal privacy policy. Enabled — Patients can click the Privacy Practice link in the footer of any page on the Patient Portal to display the Privacy Practice page. Disabled — Your Patient Portal does not display a link to the Privacy Practice page in the footer.

Field Name	Description
Homepage headline	This field displays the headline that appears at the top of a patient's home page on your Patient Portal.
Homepage message	This field displays the message that appears on a patient's home page on your Patient Portal.