Managing the Canvas Patient Portal

The Canvas Patient Portal gives patients a secure way to access parts of their care experience online. Depending on your organization's configuration, patients can use the portal to send messages, complete forms or consents, view health information, manage appointments, upload documents, and access other patient-facing workflows.

Before you begin

Patient Portal access and available features depend on your organization’s configuration. Some portal capabilities may require Canvas support or implementation assistance to enable.

Common configuration areas include:

• Enabling the Patient Portal for your instance

• Configuring the portal login page and banner

• Enabling portal features, such as appointments, consents, registration, messaging, payments, contact, or My Health

• Configuring scheduling availability, forms, documents, or custom workflows

Patient Portal URL

Patients typically access the portal at:

https://[your-practice-name].canvasmedical.com/app/

You can share this URL from your website, intake materials, appointment reminders, or patient communications.

Inviting a patient to the portal

To invite a patient:

1. Open the patient’s chart.

2. Go to the patient profile, specifically the portal user section.

3. Confirm the patient has the required demographic and contact information. When inviting, link a unique email or phone number to the patient's portal user. It doesn't have to match their existing contact points, but it is what's used for password resets

4. Send the portal invite by email or phone, depending on your configured workflow.

5. The patient follows the invite link to create their login credentials.

If the patient’s invite link expires, send a new invite or password reset link from this view at any time.

Patient self-registration

If self-registration is enabled, patients can register from the portal login page.

Patients should use the same identifying information your organization has on file. If a patient registers more than once using different contact information, this may create duplicate patient records. Canvas does not automatically merge duplicate charts, so your team should follow your internal duplicate chart process if this happens.

Logging in

Patients log in using their portal credentials. Canvas supports username, email, or phone number, plus a password login for the Patient Portal. If you'd prefer patients be identified by email only, Canvas support can enable that.

If a patient cannot log in:

1. Confirm they are using the correct portal URL.

2. Confirm they are using the correct username, email or phone_number, depending on their setup.

3. Ask them to reset their password.

4. Confirm their portal account is active.

5. Ask them to try a private/incognito browser window or clear browser cache.

6. If the issue continues, contact Canvas support with the patient MRN or chart URL, screenshots, and the exact error message.

Branding the login page

You can put your organization's identity on the portal:

• Logo — your organization's logo appears on the login page and throughout the portal. Until you provide one, the default Canvas logo is shown. Contact Canvas support to set it.

• Login banner — a short message shown above the login card. You can use HTML to style the text. Contact support to set it.

• Email sender — messages and notifications to patients are sent with your organization's name as the sender, from your organization's default email address. Contact support to use a custom address.

The portal URL and the sign-in and verification screens are provided by Canvas and aren't customizable.

Portal features

Available portal features vary by configuration.

Messaging

Patient Portal messaging allows patients and care teams to communicate securely. Messaging behavior may differ from email-only communication, so confirm that your team understands how portal messages are routed and reviewed.

Forms

Depending on configuration, patients may be able to complete forms in the portal upon logging in. They are presented through a plugin (e.g. intake forms tied to an upcoming appointment). See the Patient Portal Forms guide.

Consents

Depending on configuration, patients may be able to complete consents in the portal upon logging in. When configuring a consent in Settings, three settings control the portal experience (but for more information on configuring consents see 📄 Managing Consents:

• Document — a PDF of the consent; the patient sees a link to review it.

• Description — a title/summary shown in the patient's list of consents.

• Is Mandatory — whether it is required by a patient to consent to before being able to access their portal.

• Show in Patient Portal — only consents with this checked appear in the portal.

When a patient logs in, the portal checks for outstanding consents and prompts them to complete any that are required. Mandatory consents must be agreed to before continuing; non-mandatory consents can be skipped. Responses are recorded on the patient profile — accepted consents show "accepted via patient portal" and skipped ones show "rejected via patient portal."

When a patient responds, Canvas records the acknowledgment on their profile (accepted or rejected via portal, with the date) — it does not generate or store a separate signed copy of the consent PDF.

Documents

Patient document workflows may include patient uploads, staff review, or document visibility in the portal. Enabled through ALLOW_PATIENT_DOCUMENT_UPLOADS in Constance config. Documents added within the portal will populate a new channel in Data Integration.

Appointments

Patients can now manage their appointments through the portal

Enabling the appointments section within constance allows all patients to:

• See their upcoming appointments

• See their past appointments

• Join telehealth appointments

• Cancel upcoming appointments

Further customization can be accomplished through the Canvas SDK.

Patient Self-Scheduling

You can also now allow patients to self schedule. Note types have two new settings, Is scheduleable via patient portal and Online duration:. If any note types have these set, patients will have the option to schedule an appointment from the appointment section or home page.

If configured, patients can:

• See their upcoming appointments

• See their past appointments

• Make new appointments

• Join telehealth appointments

• Cancel upcoming appointments

• Reschedule upcoming appointments

When scheduling, the appointment search allows the patient to select the appointment type (note type), location, a provider (optional), and date (optional). They are then presented within open slots across one or many providers to choose from.

The scheduling form includes a note which will translate to the comment within the reason for visit Command.

The audit trail in the note footer will show that the appointment was created by the patient user.

My Health

The My Health section gives patients a summary of their chart. It mirrors the filters used in the default chart view — if you see it in Canvas, the patient sees it in the portal. The chart summary shows:

• Conditions — all conditions marked to show in summary (active conditions and past medical history), with the last assessed date and the provider who last assessed it.

• Medications — active medications, with name, start date, instructions (sig), and last prescriber.

• Allergies — active allergies, with the allergen, severity, reaction, and onset date.

• Uploading documents: if enabled, patients can upload documents from My Health. Uploaded documents appear in a dedicated Data Integration channel for staff to review.

Landing page

Canvas supports a Patient Portal landing page experience. Organizations may customize the landing experience to guide patients to the most important next steps. See the developer guide for more information.

Troubleshooting

The patient cannot access the portal

Check the following:

1. The patient is using the correct portal URL.

2. The Patient Portal is enabled for your instance.

3. The patient has an active portal account.

4. The patient has completed registration.

5. The patient’s email or phone number is correct.

6. The patient is using the correct login credentials.

Collect the exact error message and patient details before contacting support.

The patient sees invalid credentials

Ask the patient to:

1. Confirm their username or email.

2. Reset their password.

3. Try a private/incognito browser window.

4. Clear browser cache and cookies.

5. Try again from the correct portal URL.

If multiple patients are affected, contact Canvas support.

The patient’s invite or password reset link expired

Send a new invite or password reset link. Ask the patient to use the newest link, since older links may no longer be valid.

The patient sees a 403 error

A 403 error may indicate an access restriction or security block. Contact Canvas support and include the patient’s portal URL, screenshot, IP address if available, and the time the error occurred.

Forms, appointments, or documents are not appearing

Confirm that:

• The relevant portal feature is enabled.

• The patient is eligible for the workflow.

• The form, appointment, or document is configured to appear in the portal.

• Any required implementation or plugin work has been completed.

Feature-specific portal capabilities are often configuration-dependent.

Best practices

• Add the portal URL to your website and patient-facing materials.

• Send portal invites before the patient’s first appointment when possible.

• Confirm patient contact information before sending invites.

• Test portal workflows in a non-production environment before rollout.

• Provide patients with simple instructions for registration, login, and password reset.

• Document your internal process for duplicate patient records created through registration.

When to contact Canvas support

Contact Canvas support if:

• Multiple patients cannot access the portal.

• A patient receives repeated login errors after password reset.

• A patient sees a 403 or unexpected error.

• Portal features are enabled but not visible.

• You need help enabling or configuring portal functionality.

Include:

• Patient MRN or chart URL, if applicable

• Portal URL

• Screenshots

• Error messages

• Browser and device information

• Approximate time the issue occurred