Canvas offers an optional patient-facing experience known as the Canvas Patient Portal. The Canvas Patient Portal is designed to support patients with a user-friendly interface that allows them to:

• View and send communications

• Schedule and manage their appointments efficiently

• Access and review lab results

• Make secure payments

• View detailed health records

This guide provides a comprehensive explanation on how to set up, navigate, and troubleshoot the Canvas Patient Portal effectively.

User Guide

Patient Portal Guide

To use the patient portal for the first time, patients must complete the registration process as a new user. This can either be done by receiving an invite by the practice or through self-registration depending on the practice settings.

Creating an Account for the Patient Portal

Adding Patient Portal Contacts

The patient's portal contacts must be saved under the Portal section of the patient's profile before registration can take place. These contacts will be used for portal registration and resetting the portal password.

1. Go to the patient's profile

2. Click Edit under the Portal section

3. Add the patient provided contacts for email and/or phone

   Enable PATIENT_APP_USERS_EMAIL_ONLY under the Constance: Config setting to restrict the portal contact to email only.

4. Click Submit

Completing the Patient Portal Activation

Once the patient profile has the portal contact(s) added, activating the portal can be done in one of two ways. The practice can send the patient and invite to the portal or the patient can go to the portal's log in page to activate their account.

Activating the Patient Portal via Invite

1. The Canvas user will navigate to the patient's profile and click Send Invite under the Portal contacts.

   

2. The patient will receive a text or email to their portal contact that will include a magic link to create their portal account.

   1. If a patient provides both a phone number and email for the portal, they will receive SMS messages only. The patient will receive the same message regardless of their contact method.

      

3. Once the patient clicks the link, they will be routed to the Create Account page in the Patient Portal.

4. The patient will enter their username and password.

   1. The password must contain 12 characters

5. The patient will click Create and be routed to the login page

6. The patient can then log in to the portal using the username and password they created/

   

Activating the Patient Portal from the Login Page

Patient's can register directly on the portals web page ONLY IF their contact information is already listed in the Portal section of their patient profile.

1. Patient will navigate to the practice's portal page https://www.[instancename].canvasmedical.com/app/

2. They will click Activate my account underneath the login credentials.

   

3. The patient will enter either the phone number or email they provided to receive their invite and click Send Link.

   

4. The patient will receive a message to the portal contact they entered to activate their password.

   

5. Once the link is clicked, they will be brought to the Create Account page to create their credentials.

   

6. After their credentials are created, they will be brought to the portal login screen to enter their new login.

Self-Registering for the Patient Portal

Patients have the ability to self register for the Patient Portal which will also create their chart in Canvas. PATIENT_APP_REGISTER must be enabled under Constance: Config for this to take place. This setting is disabled by default.

1. The patient will go to the practice's portal log in page using the following URL: https://www.[instancename].canvasmedical.com/app/.

2. The patient will click Register under the log in fields to be brought the registration page.

   

3. The patient will need to complete all fields of the form before they can click Register.

   

4. Once the patient completes their registration, they will be brought back to the log in page where they can then access the portal using their created credentials.

   If a patient registers twice with different contact information, two separate charts will be created for the same patient. Canvas does not offer a feature to merge charts, which may lead to duplicate patient records. In such cases, the Managing Duplicate Charts process should be followed.

Portal Credential Validation

• Username

  • Rules: No spaces; only email-safe characters. Allowed: . + - _ @.

  • Valid: firstlast, first.last, user@domain.com

  • Invalid: first last, john<doe

• Phone Number

  • Rules: Must be 10 digits. All special characters will be removed in Canvas; can include +1.

  • Valid: +14155552671, (415) 555-2671, 4155552671

  • Invalid: 1a2b3c4d, 123456

• Email

  • Rules: Must follow email format. only email-safe characters. Plus addressing, also known as subaddressing is supported.

  • Valid: user@domain.com, first+last@domain.com

  • Invalid: john.doe@, user@example..com

• Password

  • Rules: Must contain 12 characters, no spaces

  • Valid: abcdefghijkl, 123456789012, C@nvas_is_c00l!

  • Invalid: less than 12 characters abc123, a b c 1 2 3

Accessing the Patient Portal

To access the patient portal, patients can visit the website directly or receive a link sent by the practice.

• The URL for patient portal access is the practice's Canvas URL followed by /app/.

  • https://www.[instancename].canvasmedical.com/app/

    Advise patients to save/bookmark the portal URL for future use.

• Patients will receive a magic link to the portal whenever a message is sent from the practice.

  • If the patient reuses the link sent by the practice, they will be sent to the login page.

Logging in to Patient Portal

From the patient portal log in screen, patients can log in using:

• Username: This is created when patient's register for the portal

• Email: The email that is listed under the Portal section of their patient profile

• Phone: The phone number that is listed under the Portal section of their patient profile

  • Phone is not mentioned as a login option, but it is supported if the patient chooses to use it

    

Resetting Portal Password

1. Patients will access the practice's portal https://www.[instancename].canvasmedical.com/app/

   • The office can send a reset link to the patient by clicking the Reset Password button under the Portal section of their patient profile.

2. The patient will select the Reset Password link located at the bottom of the login window.

   

3. In the reset password window, patients must enter the email address or phone number they provided to the practice for portal access.

   

4. The patient will receive a message to their portal contact with a link to reset their password.

   

5. The reset password window will display the patient's username pre-filled with their existing username.

   • The patient should enter and confirm their new password and click Reset. The password must contain 12 characters.

     

6. After clicking Reset to update the password, patients will be redirected to the login page.

Navigating the Patient Portal

Once the patient has signed in to the portal, they may the following depending on which features the practice chose to enable:

• Forms

  • Certain forms, such as intake details or condition-specific questionnaires, may be required and will be shared upon login.

• Consents

  • Patient consents, such as treatment approvals, will appear immediately upon login. If the patient has forms to complete, the consents will be shown after the forms are finished.

  • If consents are designated as mandatory in Canvas, the patient will not be able to access the portal until the consents are completed.

  • If a consent expires and is set to display in the patient portal, the patient will be prompted to complete the consent upon logging in. The prompt will include the expiration date of the consent.

    

  • For detailed instructions on creating consents, refer to 📄 Managing Consents.

• Appointments

  • Access the Appointments tab to view and manage both past and future appointments.

    • Easily schedule, reschedule or cancel appointments through the platform.

      • Type of Appointment and Location fields required.

      • Provider and Date of Service fields are optional, though entering these can help specify the patient's appointment needs. Available providers and dates will still be displayed if the fields are left blank.

    • Patients can join virtual visit, when applicable, directly from the portal.

• Messaging

  • Patients can communicate with their provider using the message interface.

  • Patients have the option to attach images or documents via Photo Library, camera, or file browser options (JPEG or PNG).

• My Health

  • Displays the patient's medical conditions, current medications, and reported allergies.

  • From this view, patients can click the Upload Records button in the top right to send documents to the practice.

    

  • Documents sent from the patient's portal will come into Data Integration from Canvas Bot and will be auto linked to the patient that sent them

    

  • Documents will be processed the same as all other documents that go through the Data Integrations process.

• Labs

  • Access lab results displayed in card format, which include lab names, date the lab was collected and associated message from their provider.

  • Clicking the lab result card will display the PDF result for the patient to view.

• Payments

  • Check their outstanding balance and review patient statements.

  • Quickly make payments using their credit or debit card via the portal's secure interface.

    • Patients can save their card information for future payments or they can use their card on file if it has already been stored.

• More Info

  • Learn more about your practice clinic through the information shared in this section.

Configuration & Set Up

Managing the Patient Portal

Enabling Patient Portal Features

Available features in the patient portal are managed from the Constance: Config setting under Patient App and Patient Portal Beta Features. Existing Canvas features are enabled by default, while beta features are activated upon request. Contact Canvas Support to enable beta features.

Patient App

• PATIENT_APP_MESSAGING: Enabled by default. Facilitates communication between the patient and their care team.

• PATIENT_APP_PAYMENTS: Enabled by default. Enables patients to pay their statement balance.

• PATIENT_APP_LABS: Enabled by default. Allows patients to review their lab results along with the provider's notes.

• PATIENT_APP_CONTACT: Enabled by default. Provides patients a contact option for their care team.

• PATIENT_ALLOWED_URLS: Keep as default

• PATIENT_APP_USERS_EMAIL_ONLY: Patients can only use their email for portal registration and password reset. This IS NOT related to the patient's username

• PATIENT_APP_BANNER: This banner appears on patient portal login page. HTML format is required for this field

• ENABLE_PATIENT_PORTAL: Allows patient access to the portal

Patient Portal Beta Features

• PATIENT_APP_MY_HEALTH: Disabled by default. Displays a list of the patient's active conditions, medications, and allergies.

• PATIENT_APP_APPOINTMENTS: Disabled by default. Allows patients to schedule, reschedule, and view past appointments. Supports virtual visit access when applicable. Refer to the Event and Note Types article for further details on how to configure note types for the portal.

• PATIENT_APP_CONSENTS: Disabled by default. Manages both mandatory and optional consents tailored to the practice through collaboration with the practice’s development team. Refer to Managing Consents for further details on configuring consents for the portal.

• PATIENT_APP_REGISTER: Disabled by default. Allows the patient to self register for the portal. Doing so will create a new patient chart in the practice's environment.

FAQ & Troubleshooting

Q: I’m encountering an error when trying to reset my password. What should I do?
A: Follow these steps to resolve common access issues:

• Use Google Chrome, which is the recommended browser for the Canvas Patient portal.

• Try opening the link in an incognito window for a fresh browsing session.

• Close all other browser windows and request a new login link from your clinic if the issue persists.

Q: How can administrators add consents to the portal?

A: Administrators can go to Settings > Consent Coding Templates and click the consent to update to Show in Patient Portal . Review Managing Consents for further details.

Q: How can I choose what is available for scheduling in the Patient Portal?

A: Administrators can define the note types that are available for scheduling in the portal under Settings > Event and Note Types. By checking Is scheduleable via patient portal and defining an online duration, it will become available in the portal. Review Event and Note Types for further details.

Keywords & Categories

• Keywords: patient app, patient portal, login, messaging, lab results, payments, health records, troubleshooting, FAQ

• Categories: Patient App Guide, Patient Portal Guide, Healthcare Technology, User Manuals, Configuration, Setup, Patient Experience