Summary
The Patient Portal is a module in Cloud 9 that allows patients to fill out questionnaires, make credit card payments, and schedule their appointments online. There is no additional cost to have the Patient Portal activated but some additional set up is required.
To check if your office has the Patient Portal set up, go to Edit > Practice Information > Patient Portal Tab. The portal url listed in that field should read https://yourcloud9sitehere.cloud9ortho.com/portal. For example, one below is for a test site and it is https://cloud411.cloud9ortho.com/portal.
If your office is not set up for Patient Portal and wants to utilize it, please contact Support by emailing cloud9support@planetdds.com, or joining the chat using the bubble in the lower right at https://cloud9support.planetdds.com/hc/en-us, or by giving us a call during business hours 8:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST at the 1.800.394.6050 option 2. Please note that Support will need to get a few background items set up for you to get the patient portal online for your practice.
Patient Portal Customization Options
The patient portal can be customized with the settings in Edit > Practice Information > Patient Portal tab to ensure your practice utilizes the patient portal to its fullest potential.
In this screen there are various customization options. Please do not change the Portal URL, that is set up by Cloud 9 and should not be edited. You can edit the various background colors, font colors, banner image, and the body image. We do recommend testing this on a test patient account to see what it looks like before deciding on a particular design. Lots of images or excessive colors can make the patient portal look busy or hard to read.
Enable Patient Portal Credit Card Payments - Allows the responsible party to complete payments in the portal. You must have either Open Edge or Planet DDS pay as an integrated payment processor for this function to work. Other payment processors do not have an integration to allow this feature. (Note: They will be prompted to only pay balance due now in the patient portal, though they can make a payment for a larger amount, — including future due — if they choose.)
Additional Note: Patient Portal payments will not affect any autopayments. If a responsible party makes a payment on the portal, their previously scheduled autopayment will still run as scheduled.
Enable Online Scheduling - allows specific appointment types to be scheduled by the responsible party for any patients listed under them. There is one additional step to add an appointment type to be scheduled online which is listed below:
- Navigate to Edit > Setup > Appointment Types and find the appointment type you want to add to "allow online scheduling" and click edit.
- On the right hand side click the box that says "Allow Online Scheduling" so that a check mark appears, then click save. (screenshot below.)
Enable Questionnaires - This option must be selected on the individual questionnaire in Edit > Setup > Questionnaire in order to display on the patient portal. If a patient completes a questionnaire, it will appear under the Patient record > View Questionnaire. Any questionnaires that you click to show on patient portal in Edit > Setup > Questionnaires will show on every patient's portal as an option for them to fill out.
Email Template: Portal Email. This should be setup by Support when they set up the patient portal and controls which document gets emailed to the responsible party when they are signed up for the patient portal. The template must use the portal URL, Portal Email, and portal password merge fields.
Setting up the Patient Portal Login for a Responsible Party
Invitations can be sent to Responsible Parties to allow them to view appointment history, future scheduled appointments, and financial ledger history.
Sending Invitations:
1. To send invitations, go to Edit Patient > Relationships tab and enter in the Responsible Party's email address here by selecting the Edit button:
2. Once you have added the email address for the Responsible Party, click on the Create Login:
3. Once you select Create Login, you should see the following popup:
4. After you select OK on that window, you will be brought back to the edit screen. You will select Ok:
5. From there, you must select Save at the top right of your screen for the patient menu. Once you do, the Invitation sends. This invitation will be sent using the email address that you entered.
Note:
- If the E-Mail address is changed after selecting Create Login and after you have saved, it will not use the new updated E-Mail address. If a different E-Mail address needs to be used for the initial invitation after it has been saved, you will have to repeat the process from the start.
Portal Login
The Responsible Party will receive the portal E-Mail within minutes of your hitting Save or Save and Close. The email they receive will contain their User Name (their email address), a temporary password, and the URL for the portal. They will be prompted to reset the temporary password upon logging in for the first time.
1. At the login screen they will need to type in their user name and temporary password.
2. After clicking Log In, they will be prompted to change their password.
When the customer logs into the portal, they get this screen. If you click on the appointment, you will see this screen with several clickable options, or buttons.
Patient Forms - At the top of the screen there are patient forms available to fill out and saved patient forms to view. These are the questionnaires the practice has selected to show in the patient portal. This is one way to manage patient Questionnaires.
Future Appointments - clicking this will hide the next appointment and display the one that is scheduled after (if applicable).
Past Appointments - Clicking this will show the patient’s previous appointments.
Cancel -The Cancel button cannot be clicked if the appointment is sooner than 24 hours from now. If it is later than 24 hours out, the responsible party can cancel their appointment from the portal.
Make a Payment - **Your office must have an integrated payment processor in order for this feature to work. Enter the amount of the payment and click Make Payment. Depending on which payment processor is setup, a payment gateway dialogue box will open, and each one may look different from what is pictured. Responsible Parties will be prompted make a payment for the balance in the Due Now but can pay more towards future due if they choose.
Reset Password is an option when you are logged into Patient Portal and is located at the top left of the screen. Once you select Reset Password you will see this screen:
A Note for Online Scheduling:
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Responsible Parties can schedule their next appointment as long as the next appointment type is set to Allow Online Scheduling and the appointment is listed on the Treatment Card as a next visit on a Visit treatment card entry.
If there are several next visits scheduled, Cloud 9 will only allow a responsible party to schedule the next visit that is needed the soonest. ***This is not currently available for pediatric responsible parties.
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What if this is a patient with No Future Appointments? The Responsible Party can schedule Only One future appointment from the Patient Portal. **** At this time, pediatric responsible parties will not be able to use the Schedule New Appointment feature.
- Appointments scheduled on the Portal cannot be rescheduled. The user must first cancel the current appointment, and then click schedule in order to reschedule it. They will only be able to schedule it again if it is the next visit appointment on their treatment card.
A Note as of the First Quarter of 2026:
If the Patient Portal Login Email address matches a Recurring Campaign email address, messages will only send from the location-based email. Employee-level emails won't be used unless the email is sent from the Document Editor.
As always, if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Cloud 9 Support by emailing us at cloud9support@planetdds.com, or chatting us online using the chat bubble on the lower right at https://cloud9support.planetdds.com/hc/en-us, or giving us a call during our business hours of 8:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST at the 1.800.394.6050 option 2.