OnPatient is DrChrono's patient portal, on the web and in an app, and DrChrono says patients use it to schedule appointments, fill in intake and consent forms, message their provider, view records and lab results, and pay bills (DrChrono, checked 2026-10-12). A patient sees none of it until the practice connects them, and messaging, scheduling and payments each sit behind a setting.
Quick answer
Log in to DrChrono and walk the settings below in this order: online scheduling, OnPatient Settings (messaging and invitations), then Patient Payments. Next, open ten patient charts and read the OnPatient status. Anyone who shows "Not Enabled - Invite" has not been sent an invitation. Keep ad and analytics tags out of the portal itself, and measure new patients on your public website instead.
What can a patient do in OnPatient, and what must you set up first?
DrChrono's OnPatient Basics article lists four things the portal does once a patient is enabled: secure messaging, online scheduling, intake and consent forms, and electronic health information (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). The portal page adds online bill payment. The table sets each against the practice-side step a support article describes.
| What the patient does | What the practice sets first | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sends and receives messages | Tick "Allow patients to send and receive messages from OnPatient" in the Communication tab of OnPatient Settings, then select "Update OnPatient Settings". Off by default | Enable messaging, checked 2026-10-12 |
| Books a visit | Tick "Access to online scheduling" under Account Settings, then switch on "Show office information online" and "Allow online scheduling in this office" for each office. The first setting also covers the scheduling widget on your site | Set up online scheduling, checked 2026-10-12 |
| Fills in intake and consent forms | The article describes patients updating forms for upcoming appointments from onpatient.com or the app. It names no separate switch | OnPatient Basics, checked 2026-10-12 |
| Checks in from the app | The article says check-in sections "may vary depending on how they are set up by your provider's office" | App check-in, checked 2026-10-12 |
| Pays a bill | With DrChrono Payments set up, choose it in the payment default drop-down under the OnPatient heading (Account, Provider Settings, Patient Payments), then select "Update Entire Profile" | Payments on OnPatient, checked 2026-10-12 |
| Views and downloads a clinical summary | The article lists no practice-side switch, only the patient's steps | Clinical summary, checked 2026-10-12 |
| Takes a video visit | The app article says patients schedule video visits "if enabled by your provider"; the scheduling article adds a Video Visit checkbox when telehealth is on for the office | Video visits, scheduling, checked 2026-10-12 |
The articles date from July 2024 to August 2026; if a label on your screen differs, follow the screen.
How does a patient get an account?
The practice has to invite them. A patient can create an account alone at onpatient.com, but DrChrono's patient article says they still need the practice's invitation to link it to their records (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). Staff send the invitation from the OnPatient link in the patient header, the OnPatient access section of the chart, or the OnPatient icon on the appointment screen, and the chart needs an email or physical address plus the patient's Social Security Number, or their date of birth and phone number (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). The patient confirms the same details when activating (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12).
Four invite options appear in the enable patient access drop-down: "Invite via Email", "Invite & Opt-Out via Email", "Invite via Letter" and "Invite & Opt-Out via Letter". A letter includes a temporary username and password. "Opting out" sends the first invite and stops invitations for future appointments.
Three settings take over most of the hand-sending. "Automated Patient Invite to OnPatient" in the Communication tab of OnPatient Settings invites patients after their first appointment visit (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). "Allow patients to connect without an invitation" in the same tab lets a patient connect from a link in a reminder email or after confirming a widget booking, with no separate invitation (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). For patients already on file, "Invite all patients now!" under the Doctor tab invites everyone whose chart holds the required details (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12).
What happens to a patient who never activates?
The invitation runs out. DrChrono gives a patient 7 days to accept; after that, staff send a new one from the OnPatient Access page of the chart, where "Revoke Invite" cancels a pending invitation and "Enable Patient Access" sends a fresh one (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). The access history on that page reads "Pending" while an invitation waits, "Active" once the patient has activated, and "Expired" after the time limit.
The chart and appointment window also show a status flag: "Enabled" for a patient who opted in, "Opted Out", or "Not Enabled - Invite" for a patient never sent an invitation (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). The pages I read do not mention an automatic reminder to a patient who lets an invitation lapse. That patient still comes in, calls and pays as before, just without the portal.
For clinicians reporting to Medicare's Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), DrChrono says the invitation must go out within 4 business days of the first appointment to meet the "patient access" requirement (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12).
How would you count who is actually on the portal?
Illustrative: every number below is made up for an imaginary family medicine office with one doctor, and no client supplied any of them.
Say the office has 600 active patients and a front-desk worker tallies each chart: 150 show "Not Enabled - Invite". Of the 450 invited, the access history shows 300 "Active", 60 "Pending" and 90 "Expired". Check that it adds up: 150 + 300 + 60 + 90 = 600.
Activated share = Active / active patients = 300 / 600 = 50%. Acceptance among invited = Active / invited = 300 / 450 = 67%, rounded. To-do list = never invited + expired = 150 + 90 = 240 patients; the 60 pending are still inside their 7 days.
Repeat the tally once a quarter with your own counts. The automatic invite only reaches patients after a first appointment, so the 150 never invited need the bulk invite or a hand-sent one.
What should you tell patients and staff?
Keep the patient script to the labels DrChrono prints. The invitation link works once: after activating, patients log in at onpatient.com (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). To send you a message, a patient selects the mail icon in the portal, then "New Message" (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12).
To read a clinical summary, they log in, select "Health Profile", then "Complete Profile" on the left; "Download PDF" saves a copy to keep or print (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). For check-in, they open the Appointments menu in the app and tap "Check-In" under Upcoming Appointments (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). The app's release notes for version 3.0.3 say that button was renamed "Fill Paperwork", so tell patients to look for either (App Store, checked 2026-10-12).
For staff, settle where messages go. The messaging article says staff send a message from the patient's chart under Communication (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12), and OnPatient Basics says a message from a patient can be replied to, noted, and assigned as a task to someone else (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). Decide who watches that inbox before you switch messaging on.
Why is the portal the wrong place to measure new patients?
The portal serves people who are already patients. A new patient from an ad usually lands on your website or on the scheduling widget, so that is where you count bookings. DrChrono's online scheduling article says the widget is separate from OnPatient appointment scheduling and can be embedded on your site, and it shows a Google Analytics ID field per office, described as "Used to track the online appointment scheduler" (DrChrono support, checked 2026-10-12). The DrChrono online scheduling post covers how to use it.
Keep ad and analytics tags off the logged-in side. The HHS bulletin, which is US guidance under HIPAA, says tracking technologies on user-authenticated webpages, "such as a patient or health plan beneficiary portal," generally have access to protected health information (PHI), and that a tracking vendor receiving PHI on the practice's behalf is a business associate, which requires a business associate agreement (HHS, checked 2026-10-12).
The bulletin carries a notice that on June 20, 2024 a federal court in Texas declared unlawful and vacated part of it, the part on unauthenticated pages that connect an IP address to a visit about health conditions or providers; HHS says it is evaluating its next steps. The notice does not touch the authenticated-page section, and because the portal holds health records, I would treat it as off limits to marketing tags either way. HIPAA-conscious conversion tracking shows what can safely leave your site.
How does the portal relate to a patient's right to see their records?
The portal is a convenient route, not the legal basis. HHS says that, with limited exceptions, the HIPAA Privacy Rule gives individuals a legal, enforceable right to see and receive copies of their records on request, and a practice must act on a request no later than 30 calendar days after receiving it, with one 30-day extension allowed (HHS, checked 2026-10-12). A patient who never activates OnPatient keeps that right, so your front desk still needs a way to answer a records request made outside the portal.
In Ontario, the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 gives patients a similar right of access, with listed exceptions, to their records held by a health information custodian (section 52), exercised by written request and answered no later than 30 days after it arrives, which can be extended by up to 30 more days (sections 53 and 54) (Ontario e-Laws, checked 2026-10-12); practices in other provinces should check their own province's law.
What should you ask DrChrono before you rely on it?
- Is there an automatic reminder for a patient whose invitation expires?
- Do you sign a business associate agreement, and which products does it cover?
- Where does a message sent through OnPatient get stored, and who can export it?
- Can I run the scheduling widget with my own analytics tag, and what does it save with the booking?
Tags
Frequently asked questions
Is OnPatient the same thing as the DrChrono patient portal?
Yes. DrChrono's own support article says patients can use the OnPatient patient portal to engage with their personal health records, and DrChrono also ships an app under the name DrChrono OnPatient Portal. DrChrono's portal page says OnPatient is included with every DrChrono subscription at no additional cost, and the practice controls what is turned on.
Can patients message my practice in OnPatient by default?
No. DrChrono's support article states that by default patients cannot exchange messages with you through the portal. A staff member with access has to tick the Allow patients to send and receive messages from OnPatient checkbox in the Communication tab of OnPatient Settings.
What does a patient need to be invited to OnPatient?
DrChrono's OnPatient Basics article says an email or physical address plus either the patient's Social Security Number or their date of birth and phone number. The practice can send the invitation by email or by printed letter. DrChrono says an invitation expires 7 days after it is sent, and the patient then needs a new one from the practice.
Can I put Google Ads or Meta tags inside the patient portal?
I would not. HHS says tracking technologies on login-protected pages such as a patient portal generally have access to protected health information, which puts them under HIPAA rules. Measure new-patient bookings on your public website or scheduling page, where no patient is logged in.
Do patients have a right to their records through the portal?
The portal is one way to give them access, not the legal requirement itself. HHS says the HIPAA Privacy Rule gives individuals, with limited exceptions, a legal right to see and receive copies of their records on request. OnPatient lets a patient view and download a clinical summary, which covers part of that.
Written by
Alexander Cheberko
Marketing Analytics & Conversion Tracking Engineer, US and Canada, run remotely
- Media buyer on Google Ads and Meta Ads from October 2023 to September 2025, nearly $700K in spend.
- Set up patient conversion tracking for a New York medical practice (anonymized).
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