Family records are a great way to organize records for children and spouses. You create multiple client records which can be accessed using one client login. This article covers the following topics:
- Terminology
- Adding a family record to an existing record
- Linking an existing record to a primary record
- Switching the primary record
- Booking sessions for child/sub-records
- Sharing documents
- Switching between records in the Client Portal
Getting Started
Before we jump into setting up your family accounts, let's get familiar with family account terminology:
- Family records - A group of client records linked by a common email address
- Primary record - The record whose email address is used as the single point of communication for all family records.
- Sub-record or Child record - A record associated with a primary record's email address. For example, this can represent a child or spouse of the primary record.
Adding a family record to an existing record
Let's say you've set up a client record for Mary Smith. Mary is a mother of two children (Steven and Susan) who you're also seeing as part of your practice. You'll want to set up two separate records for each child so you can keep track of their individual profiles and resources.
- To set up a record for Steven, go to My Clients and click on the More Options button (3 dots) to the right of Mary's list item.
- Click on the Add a family record option. This will take you to a screen where you can add details for Steven. This screen is similar to the regular Add Client screen; the only difference is the email address field is now read-only as it will be linked to the primary record's email address.
- Click Add to create the client record for Steven.
Linking an existing record to a primary record
Let's say you've already set up a client record for Steven using Mary's secondary email address (mary.secondary@practicebetter.io). You can easily link Steven's record to Mary's by clicking on the More Options button to the right of Steven's name. Select the Link to primary option.
A popup will appear asking you to choose a primary record to associate Steven's record with. Select Mary Smith.
Switching the Primary Record
You can easily make a sub-record the primary in a family record by selecting Make primary from the More Options menu next to the sub-record.
Unlinking Records
At some point, you may need to let a spouse log into the Client Portal with their own account credentials. You can easily unlink family records in Practice Better by clicking on the More button to the right of the client's name. Select the Unlink record option.
Before unlinking, you must first provide an email address to associate with the record as communication will no longer be going to a primary account. After the record is unlinked, you can choose to invite the client to Practice Better to access the Client Portal with new credentials.
Bookings Sessions for Child/Sub Records
The primary client in a family record (e.g. the mother) can request appointments for child/sub-records in a couple of ways:
Requesting session from your Bookings Page
On the Contact Information step of the booking process, the primary client (e.g. the mother) should enable the I'm booking for a family member checkbox:
The primary client will then enter the child record's first and last name in the family member fields below:
We'll add 1 or 2 family records to your account based on the following scenarios:
- If neither the primary nor child record exists in your account, we'll add both to your account.
- If only the primary client exists, we'll only add the child/sub-record to your account.
- If the client name entered in the family member fields matches an existing primary record, we'll create a child/sub-record for the client who is booking on behalf of the family member. You can switch the primary once the request is submitted.
Requesting sessions from the Client Portal
A primary client with access to the Client Portal can request appointments directly from the Client Portal so long as they're requesting appointments from the child's profile. See below
Using the Invite to Book option
Primary clients without access to the Client Portal can request sessions for sub-records from your public Bookings Page so long as you've sent the child an invitation to book. The invitation will be emailed to the primary client (since they share the same email address), but the appointment request will be automatically linked to the child record once submitted. Learn more about sending invitations to book sessions.
Sharing Documents
Within Practice Better, documents uploaded and shared via your My Documents can only be shared with clients who've signed up for an account. As sub-records are linked to one login, the primary record will have access to all documents shared with themselves and their sub-records via their My Documents section in the Client Portal.
Switching between records in the Client Portal
Let's say Mary has completed a form for herself and wants to complete a form on Susan's behalf. To do this she can switch from her personal profile over to Susan's profile in the Client Portal without having to log out:
- In the top right corner of the toolbar, click or tap on the profile image. A menu will appear with an option to "Switch Profile". Click "Switch Profile" to view resources for another client set up under the same account
- A screen will appear allowing Mary to select from a list of available client records. Here she can select Susan's profile to complete Susan's pending forms.