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The portal is the web address where a patient signs in to see their own results, documents and appointments without telephoning your front desk. This tab is where you configure it and publish it.
The sidebar calls this section CLIENT EXPERIENCE and the tab Client Portal, and the portal’s own settings say “clients” throughout. Those are the people this section calls patients. We use “patients” here and quote the screen’s wording whenever we name a control.

What this tab controls

The seven tabs in one line each: Branding sets the portal name, the URL slug, the welcome message, logo, banner, favicon, colours and font. Appointments decides whether patients may book, cancel or reschedule, and how much notice they must give. Messaging turns secure messaging on and sets auto-replies. Telehealth enables video or phone consultations. Documents controls uploads, forms and — the section to read twice — which health records patients may see, badged Sensitive. Notifications chooses which events alert your team and which reminders reach patients. Privacy covers the privacy notice, consent on signup, data export and auto-logout. For the detail of each, see Portal features and Portal branding.

Set it up

1

Set the name and the address first

On Branding, enter a Portal Name and a URL Slug — “Lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens only”. Nothing can be published without both; until the slug exists the chip is replaced by “Set a URL slug in Branding to publish your portal”.
2

Decide what patients may see

On Documents, work through Client health record access. Lab results is the one that matters for a lab: switching it on means a patient reads their own verified result the moment it is released, without calling you.
3

Set your privacy posture

On Privacy, turn on Show HIPAA / privacy notice and Require consent on first signup, and set the auto-logout period.
4

Choose the rest

Work through Appointments, Messaging, Telehealth and Notifications. Each section has its own switch and shows Status: enabled or Status: disabled.
5

Publish

Turn the Client Portal switch on and select Save Changes. You get “Client portal settings saved successfully” and the button becomes a green, pulsing Live.

What changes once you save

Your portal goes live at client.clinikehr.com/ plus your slug. The address is real from that moment, and the chip’s copy and open buttons work. But no patient can sign in yet. Two conditions must both hold, and only one of them is on this tab:
  1. The lab-wide Client Portal switch, here, is on and published.
  2. That individual patient has portal access enabled on their own record.
A patient with no access on their record meets a portal that will not let them in, however green the button here is. Grant it per patient — see Inviting patients. What a patient can see follows the Documents tab, not what your bench has finished. Switching Lab results off keeps results out of the portal even after they are verified and released. Everything else takes effect for the next visitor. Someone already signed in keeps the session they have until it times out.
Once the portal is live, the button no longer saves — it unpublishes. It renders as a green pulsing Live with the tooltip Unpublish Client Portal, and selecting it takes the portal offline immediately, with no confirmation dialog. You will see “Portal unpublished successfully” and every patient loses access at once. To save an ordinary edit while live, use Save Changes in the bar at the foot of the page instead.

Check it worked

Copy the URL from the chip and open it in a private browser window: you should reach your own branded sign-in page, not an error. Then ask a patient who has portal access on their record to sign in and confirm they can see what you intended — and only that.

Common issues

“The Client Portal is a premium feature available on our Starter, Essential and Team plans.” See Change your plan.
Portal Name or URL Slug is blank, the slug is already taken, or you are not the owner. Fill both on Branding and wait for the slug to show as available.
That is what it does while live — it unpublishes, immediately and without asking. Turn the Client Portal switch back on and save to republish.
They do not have portal access on their own record. Both conditions must hold. See Inviting patients.
Those two need an Essential or Team plan — “Messaging is available on Essential & Team Plans”.
Lab results is off under Client health record access on the Documents tab. Releasing a report and publishing it to the portal are two different decisions.