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OutSmart Guide

Patient Portal Account Overview

The Patient Portal is a secure online account that allows your clients and patients to interact with your clinic digitally. Through their portal, patients can manage appointments, access treatment plans, complete forms, and communicate with your practice, all from one convenient location.

Overview

The Patient Portal serves as a centralized hub where patients can:

  • Update their personal profiles
  • Book, cancel, and reschedule appointments
  • View treatment plans and shared documents
  • Complete and submit questionnaires (SmartForms)
  • Access their medical information securely

How Patient Accounts Work

Account Creation Process

Patient Portal accounts can only be created by patients taking one of the following actions:

  1. Online Booking - When booking their first online appointment as a “new patient,” a Patient Portal account is automatically created. The email address and password they enter at the time of booking become their patient portal login information.

  2. Smart Forms Assignment - You send them a Smart Form to complete using either method:

    • Book an appointment for them and send a confirmation email with an attached Smart Form
    • Go to the Smart Forms page in your account and manually send them a Smart Form to fill out

    Both methods send a system email with a “Take me to my forms” link that allows them to register for a new Patient Portal account

  3. Medical Access Code - From the Patient Workspace, go to the Medical Access Code tab, generate and send the patient an “Access Link” via email. This system email includes a link allowing them to create their Patient Portal account

Two Levels of Access: Limited vs Full

Patient Portal accounts operate with two distinct access levels:

Limited Access Accounts

How They’re Created:

  • Patient books online as a new patient
  • Patient clicks the link in Smart Form assignment emails

What Patients Can Access:

  • Appointments they booked themselves online
  • Smart Forms (intake forms) you assigned them
  • Documents they upload to send to you
  • Only information they personally created or submitted

Security Benefits:

  • No access to clinic-generated information
  • No possibility of data compromise
  • Maintains strict privacy boundaries

Full Access Accounts

How They’re Created:

  • You send an “Access Link” from the Patient Workspace
  • Both admins and practitioners can generate these links
  • Works for new accounts or existing limited accounts

What Patients Can Access:

  • All Limited Access features, plus:
  • Treatment plans you’ve created
  • Documents you’ve shared with them
  • Appointments you manually booked for them

Troubleshooting

The patient gets an error saying an account already exists

This is the most common portal problem, and it is not a fault. That error appears in one situation only: the patient is on the registration page trying to create a new account with an email address that already has one.

Almost always they have a portal account already and don’t realise it. A patient gets one automatically the first time they book online as a new patient, and again through any Smart Form or access link they have used in the past. The account persists, so every form you send after that goes to the account they already have.

The fix is to have them log in instead of registering. Point them at the portal login page rather than the new account page. If they can’t remember the password they chose, the Forgot Password link on that page emails them a reset. Once they’re in, the intake forms you assigned are waiting for them.

If they insist they never created an account, ask which email address they’re typing. The error is tied to the email, so a patient with two addresses can easily be registering with one and holding an account under the other.

The patient can log in but sees no forms

The forms are assigned to a specific portal account. If the patient has accounts under two different email addresses, they may be logged into the one you didn’t send the forms to. Check which email address you sent the assignment to and have them log in with that one.

The patient never received the email

Check the spam folder first, then confirm the email address on the patient’s record is correct. If the address was wrong, correct it and send the form or access link again.