Find your way around a client chart

Open a client from Patients to see their chart. The header shows Next visit, Last visit, Provider and Balance, plus chips only when something needs doing ("2 documents waiting · View", "1 invoice overdue · Collect"). The buttons are Call, Message, Ask (the assistant, about this client) and Book; on a computer, the ⋯ menu has Edit profile, Upload photo, Clinical notes, Send documents, Discharge client, Email portal invitation and Grant portal access (copy link). The Overview tab holds the Administrative note (flag it Urgent, Heads-up or FYI), Activity, Appointments with Manage upcoming, Staff notes, Billing, Patient info, How to reach them, Contacts, Clinical (diagnoses, allergies and medications, diagnosed treatment), Insurance, Household and Portal access. The other tabs are Notes, Messages, Billing, Payments (once online payments are set up), Documents and Records.

Updated October 24, 20265 min read

Open any client from Patients (or from search, a task, a call or the calendar) to land on their chart. The top of the chart is the same on every tab; the tabs underneath hold the detail.

The header

Who they are. Photo (click it to upload or change one: JPEG, PNG, GIF or WebP under 5MB, cropped to a circle), the name they go by, their status (active, prospective, inactive), Minor or Adult, then age, phone, email and household.

Four facts the front desk asks most:

Fact	What it shows
Next visit	The next booked appointment, for example "Tomorrow · 2:30 PM", or None booked
Last visit	The most recent visit and its length, or None yet
Provider (your term)	Their primary provider, or the provider on their visits, or Not assigned
Balance	What they owe. Click it to open the Billing tab

Chips, only when something needs doing:

2 documents waiting · View: portal documents sent but not finished. Opens the Documents tab.
1 invoice overdue · Collect: opens the Billing tab.

Buttons:

Call dials their phone from the app (greyed out with "No phone on file").
Message opens the Messages tab.
Ask asks the Setup Assistant about this client (shown when the assistant is on).
Book opens the calendar to book them.

Scroll down and a slim bar stays at the top with their name, next visit, Call, Message and Book.

Edit profile: every field on the record.
Upload photo (or Change photo).
Clinical notes: jumps to the Notes tab.
Send documents: the Send documents wizard.
Discharge client, or Care status (discharged) once they are; see Discharge and records release.
Email portal invitation: emails the portal sign-in link with nothing attached; you can edit the subject and message first.
Grant portal access (copy link): a one-time link to copy and share; it shows when it expires and works even with no email on file.

The two portal items are hidden when your practice has the Client Portal turned off.

Banners at the top of Overview

Administrative note. Click Add administrative note, type it (up to 2,000 characters) and pick a Flag: Urgent (red, must read), Heads-up (amber, read this visit) or FYI (grey, background). It shows as Admin note in one line; click to open it, with who wrote it and when, Edit, PDF (a letterhead copy) and Remove.
Coming of age, when a client is turning 18 or already has with a parent still linked: Decide. See Coming of age.
Send documents, on a new chart until something is sent: "Send {name} their intake documents" with Send documents (dismiss it with the ×).
Next appointment, with Mark confirmed (until it is), Reschedule, and for a video visit Join video visit and Send link.
A discharged client gets a banner pointing to the Records tab.

The Overview cards

Left side:

Activity: appointments, calls, messages and forms in one feed, with All, Appointments, Calls, Messages and Forms filters. Click a call for its recording and transcript, or a visit to open it.
Appointments: every visit, numbered (Appointment #1 is the first), with status, time, provider and service, and a LOCKED or DRAFT preview of its note. With more than one visit coming up, Manage upcoming changes or deletes them together; see Repeating visits.
Staff notes: dated notes from the team. Type in Add a note… and click Add note. Each shows who wrote it and the date.

Right side:

Billing: Patient balance, Unpaid invoices, whether AutoPay is on, and Open billing.
Patient info: Date of birth (with age), Texts (only when off, for example "Off (replied STOP)"), Language, Gender, Primary care provider, Outside primary care doctor, Pharmacy, Client since (your term) and First visit (locked). Click a pencil or Add to edit one row in place; View all fields opens the full form.
How to reach them: Contact by (Text, Email, Phone call, and which one they prefer) and Reminders (Appointment reminders, Document reminders, Cancellation notices, each with its channels or Off). Click a pencil to change them. When the record is marked do not contact, the card adds a Do not contact row that reads "On: no reminders or notices go out".
Contacts: parents, guarantors, emergency and family contacts, tagged Emergency contact or Gets reminders, with call, text and email buttons and Edit.
Clinical: Diagnoses (ICD-10) (one marked Primary; see Add diagnoses), Allergies & Medications (an empty allergy list reads NKDA; for athena-linked clients medications come from athena) and Diagnosed Treatment (planned procedures, for example from a SoftDent import, with Add treatment or Edit).
Insurance, Household and Portal access (who manages this client's portal, and whose portal they manage).

The tabs

Tab	What is there
Overview	The banners and cards above.
Notes	Clinical notes, the treatment plan and measures. See Write and sign clinical notes.
Messages	Texts and secure messages with this client. See Secure messaging.
Billing	The billing profile, guarantor, charges, invoices and superbills. See The client billing profile and Guarantors.
Payments	Payments, pay links, credit and payment plans, when the location takes payments. See Take patient payments.
Documents	Portal requests, every file on the chart and form answers. See Send documents to a client.
Records	Discharge, releases of information, chart export and disclosures. See Discharge and records release.

The Notes tab before the first note

A strip across the top of Notes shows only what needs attention for this client: a visit with no note (Write note or Finish note), the treatment plan when it needs something (none yet, a draft, a review due or overdue, or waiting for the client's signature), the latest measure or an unacknowledged risk flag (Acknowledge), and notes waiting for your co-signature (Review). When nothing does, it reads "All caught up".

Until the first note exists, the tab shows No notes yet and the first session in order, ticking each step off as it is done:

Start the treatment plan: Start plan.
Write the first note: Write note.
Send a baseline measure (PHQ-9, GAD-7 or PCL-5, so later scores have something to compare to): Send measure.

Each step is optional.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I put a note the front desk sees?

On the client's Overview tab, click Add administrative note at the top. Type the note, pick a flag (Urgent in red, Heads-up in amber, FYI in grey) and click Save. It stays pinned at the top of the chart as Admin note, one line until you click it open. From there you can Edit it, download it as a PDF, or Remove it. For running notes from visits and calls, use the Staff notes card further down.

What do the Next visit, Last visit, Provider and Balance boxes show?

They are the header facts on every chart. Next visit is the next booked appointment (None booked if there is none), Last visit the most recent one with its length, Provider the client's primary provider (or the provider on their visits), and Balance what they owe. When there is a balance, click it to open the Billing tab.

How do I change how a client is contacted?

On the Overview tab, open the How to reach them card. Click the pencil next to Contact by to turn Text, Email and Phone call on or off and pick the one they prefer, then Save. Click the pencil next to Reminders to switch Appointment reminders, Document reminders and Cancellation notices on or off and choose the channels for each. A channel they can't be reached on is greyed out.

How do I send a client a link to the portal?

On a computer, click the ⋯ button in the chart header (the phone layout's menu doesn't have the portal items). Email portal invitation emails them the portal sign-in link (you can edit the subject and message first). Grant portal access (copy link) makes a one-time link you copy and share yourself; it works even with no email on file. Both are hidden when your practice has the Client Portal turned off.

Where are a client's allergies and medications?

On the Overview tab, in the Clinical card, under Allergies & Medications. Click Edit to add or remove them; an empty allergy list shows as No known drug allergies (NKDA). For a client linked to athenahealth, medications come from athena instead and show in their own card.

What does the "documents waiting" chip mean?

The client has documents you sent through the Client Portal that are still sent, opened or started but not finished. Click View to open the Documents tab, where you can see each one and send a reminder.

What does the Ask button do?

It opens the Setup Assistant and asks it about this client: their next visit, balance and anything waiting. The button only shows when the assistant is turned on for you.

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