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What is the Patient Portal: The patient portal is a secure area where your patients can sign in to view their appointments, complete forms, and manage their account. Patients access it via a link unique to your clinic (e.g. app.decodahealth.com/your-clinic/patient-portal).
The patient portal lets patients create an account, sign in, and manage their own information. It is designed for patients, and clinic staff can also access it when they are linked to a patient record for that clinic. Admins control which self-service actions are available — see Patient Portal Configuration for dashboard layout and portal permissions.

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Preview a patient’s portal

From a patient chart, click Preview portal to open that patient’s portal in a new browser tab. Use preview mode to check what the patient can see before you ask them to sign in or complete a task. Preview mode is read-only. The portal shows a Preview mode message, hides sign out, and blocks save or edit actions so clinic staff cannot change the patient’s information from the preview. If a patient would need to contact the clinic because an online action is unavailable, the preview shows that same message.

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How patients reach the portal

Patients reach the patient portal through links sent by your clinic — for example, in appointment confirmations, intake forms, or text messages. The link format is: https://app.decodahealth.com/{your-clinic}/patient-portal Replace {your-clinic} with your clinic name in the web address.

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Sign up

New patients click Create Account on the sign-in page. Sign-up uses the patient’s phone number to confirm identity and match them to the chart your clinic already has on file.
1

Enter email, password, and phone number

The patient enters an email, a password, and a phone number. The email must not already be in use by another portal account — if it is, sign-up is blocked and the patient is asked to sign in instead. They can also click Continue with Google instead of setting a password — Google sign-up still requires the phone step that follows, and the same email-uniqueness rule applies to the Google account’s email.
2

Verify the phone number

A 6-digit code is sent by text. The patient enters it to confirm the phone number belongs to them.
3

Pick the right patient (if needed)

If the phone number is on more than one chart at your clinic (for example, a parent and a child), a list appears so the patient can pick themselves. If the patient is brand new to your clinic, they’re prompted for their first and last name to create a new chart.
Once these steps finish, the account is linked to the patient’s chart and they’re signed in. Patients who book online or complete a form using only their phone number (without a portal account) see a Sign up for the patient portal prompt afterward, inviting them to Create your patient portal account so they can sign in later.

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Sign in

Returning patients sign in from the same page with:
  • Email and password
  • Continue with Google (if their clinic has Google sign-in enabled)
  • Forgot password? to reset their password by email

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Security and eligibility

  • Clinic staff can sign in to the patient portal with their work account and access it as a patient at their own clinic.
  • Each patient chart can be linked to only one portal account, and each email address can back only one portal account. If a patient tries to sign up with details that already have portal access, they’re prompted to sign in instead of creating a duplicate.
  • If a patient signs in and no matching record can be found, they are prompted to provide more information before access is granted.

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Dashboard

When a patient signs in, the dashboard is the first screen they see. It opens with a personalized greeting (e.g., “Good morning, Sarah”) followed by a grid of widgets the clinic has chosen. Admins choose which widgets appear and how wide each is — see Customize the dashboard. Inside the Quick Actions widget, each patient can pick their own shortcuts: click Edit, remove an action with the X, add an available action with +, then click Done. Their choices stick for next time they sign in.

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Appointments

Where to find it: Click Appointments in the sidebar. Upcoming appointments are grouped into three sections:
  • Today — appointments happening today.
  • This Week — appointments in the next 7 days, not including today.
  • Coming Up — all appointments after this week.
Each appointment shows the service name, date and time, provider, and location. Clicking an appointment opens its detail page. Telehealth visits with a video link show a Join Google Meet button on both the appointment card and the detail page, so patients can join when it’s time. Past appointments are listed in reverse chronological order, grouped by month. Cancelled appointments move to the Cancelled tab.

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Book, cancel, and reschedule

Online booking, cancellation, and rescheduling are each controlled by a portal permission. Patients can only change an appointment online when it is more than 24 hours away.
  • With Book appointments on, patients can click + Book Appointment from the Appointments page or Book Appointment from an empty appointment area. When off, those buttons are hidden and patients are told to contact the clinic to schedule.
  • With Cancel appointments on, patients can click Cancel from the appointment list or Cancel Appointment from the detail page.
  • With Reschedule appointments on, patients can click Reschedule and choose a new time.
  • If neither cancel nor reschedule is available, patients see a note to contact the clinic.

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Forms

Where to find it: Click Forms in the sidebar. The Pending tab lists all forms assigned to the patient that have not been fully submitted, with a status of in progress or not yet started. Click Open Form to open it in a new tab and fill it out. A green checkmark screen appears when there are no pending forms. The Completed tab lists forms the patient has already submitted, with the date each was completed. Clicking a completed form opens a read-only view of the submitted answers.

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Memberships

Prerequisites: Your clinic must have memberships configured. Only plans with Show in patient portal turned on appear here — staff-only plans are hidden, though existing members can still view a plan they’re enrolled in.
Where to find it: Click Memberships in the sidebar. The Memberships page lets a patient browse the membership plans your clinic offers, enroll in one, and manage their active enrollments.

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Browse plans

Each plan appears as a tile showing:
  • Plan name and short description
  • Price per billing cycle (for example, $50 / month)
  • One-time setup fee, if any
  • Headline benefits — global discount percentage and any recurring patient credit
  • An Enrolled badge if the patient is already on the plan
Clicking a tile opens the plan’s detail page, which expands on the tile with:
  • Benefits — discount percentage on all services, recurring credits, and any per-category discount templates
  • Details — billing frequency, whether the plan auto-renews, the minimum term in billing cycles, and any maximum number of renewals
  • Fee Schedule — the price for each billing cycle when it differs across cycles (for example, an introductory rate)

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Enroll in a plan

1

Open the plan

Click a plan tile on the Memberships page.
2

Choose when to start

Use the Pay Now / Pay Later switch. Pay Now enrolls the patient and charges them today. Pay Later schedules the enrollment to start on a future date.
3

Pick a payment method

The patient’s default card or bank account is selected automatically. To use a different one, pick from the Pay with a different method menu, or click + Add a new payment method to enter a new card.
4

Pick a start date (Pay Later only)

Choose any date from tomorrow onward. The first charge happens on that date.
5

Review and confirm

The summary shows the setup fee, the first cycle’s price, and the total due today (or on the start date). Click Enroll and confirm in the prompt that appears.
After a successful Pay Now enrollment, the page reloads with the Enrolled badge. Pay Later enrollments show on the Billing page until the start date arrives. If a Pay Now charge fails, the patient sees an error and is asked to contact the clinic — no enrollment is created. If a Pay Later charge fails on the start date, the membership moves to Delinquent and staff resolve it from the Members table; the patient is not retried automatically.

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Manage an active membership

On an enrolled plan’s detail page, the patient can:
  • See the billing payment method currently on file for the membership.
  • Change Card — pick a different card or bank account for future charges, or add a new one. Future cycles bill the new method; previously-charged cycles are not affected.
  • Cancel Membership — only available when Cancel memberships is on. Otherwise, a note instructs the patient to contact the clinic.
Membership actions follow these portal permissions:
  • View memberships shows the Memberships page, membership links, and membership details in Billing.
  • Purchase memberships lets patients enroll online. When off, patients can view plans but are told to contact the clinic to enroll.
  • Cancel memberships shows Cancel Membership for active memberships. When off, patients are told to contact the clinic.
  • Add payment methods and Set default payment method control whether patients can add a new payment method or use Change Card for future membership charges.

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Billing

Where to find it: Click Billing in the sidebar. The Billing page lets patients view saved payment methods and active memberships. The Payment Methods section shows saved cards and bank accounts. A Default badge marks the payment method used by default. Depending on portal permissions, patients can:
  • + Add Card or Add Payment Method — add a saved card or bank account.
  • Set as default — make a saved payment method the default.
  • Remove action — remove a saved payment method.
If adding payment methods is off and the patient has no saved payment methods, the page tells them to contact the clinic. If a patient opens Add Payment Method and payment setup is not available, they see Payment methods cannot be added online and are told to contact the clinic. Decoda does not keep trying in the background, so staff should update the payment method for the patient or turn on online payment method updates when appropriate. The Active Memberships section shows each active membership with its status, billing frequency, next billing date, and payment method. When View memberships is on, patients can click Browse All or Browse Memberships to open the Memberships page. When off, active memberships still appear here, but membership browsing links are hidden.

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Package & Saved Benefits

The Package & Saved Benefits section on the Billing page shows what the patient has left to redeem. Each package appears with the units remaining and, where set, an expiry date. Saved item benefits (typically banked discounts) appear next to it with their remaining value. When the patient has no packages or saved items, the section shows a friendly placeholder instead of hiding the area, so the patient knows the balances would appear here if they had any.

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Profile

Where to find it: Click Profile in the sidebar. The profile screen shows the patient’s current information on file:
  • Name and preferred name
  • Date of birth and gender
  • Contact details (email, phone)
  • Address
When Edit profile is on, patients can update editable parts of their profile:
  1. Click Edit next to Personal Information or Address.
  2. Update any fields.
  3. Click Save Changes.
Changes are saved immediately and reflected in the clinic’s records. When Edit profile is off, Edit links are hidden and patients are told to contact the clinic for changes. Address fields also become read-only when profile updates are not available: patients cannot clear the address, search for a new address, or switch to manual address entry from that screen.