For One Patient
To enable or disable Patient Portal access for a patient, open the Patient Information window by clicking on the pencil icon just below the patient's profile picture, and click on the Patient Portal tab (at the far right). Toggle the button for Patient's Access Level to "Patient Can Access Portal" to enable access, or to "No Access to Portal" to disable.
Note that the patient MUST have an email address (under Basic Data) and zip code (under Home Address) before Patient Portal access can be turned on. This is because email and zip code are required pieces of confirming information should they request a password reset.
Note that if you do not collect zip/ postal codes, or specific patients do not have a zip/ postal code that works here, you can use 00000. That will make it so the password reset confirmation ignores the zip/ postal code and can be triggered based only on email, last name, and date of birth.
For Multiple/ Many Patients
Use the Patient Portal Onboarding Tool.
Patient Portal Access is Generally ON by Default
A patient who you add manually (via Admin > Add New Patient) will have their Patient Portal access automatically enabled if "Should the patient be able to activate portal without further confirmation" is checked.
A patient who signs up online (via the Patient Portal online registration form) will automatically have Patient Portal access enabled as soon as the patient confirms their email address by clicking on the link in the automatically-generated confirmation email. If that verification step is not completed, Patient Portal access will remain toggled off and you will need to manually enable the patient's Portal account as described above, then have the patient follow the process for resetting their password.
Patients who are imported from another electronic system during onboarding generally have their Patient Portal access set to OFF until you turn it on.
To enable Patient Portal access, you will need to have a home zip code and email address on file for the patient. For patients who want to share a single email address, each one must have a unique username for the Patient Portal.
Note that if you do not collect zip/ postal codes, or specific patients do not have a zip/ postal code that works here, you can use 00000. That will make it so the password reset confirmation ignores the zip/ postal code and can be triggered based only on email, last name, and date of birth.
For detailed information about troubleshooting Patient Portal access (written for patients), see:
Important Privacy Note
Before granting access to the patient portal, it is important that you verify with the patient that only the patient has access to the listed email account. Any other people that have access to the account could potentially gain unauthorized access to protected health information, in violation of privacy laws.
Once patient portal access is enabled, be very cautious when changing a patient's email address to make sure that the change request is authorized and not an attempt by a third party to gain unauthorized access.