Appointment Check-in Using the Patient Portal

Patients can check in for their upcoming appointments using NextGen® Office Patient Portal accounts.

Please Note: When a patient checks in for an appointment on the patient portal, it will not update the appointment status on the schedules in NextGen Office.

Requirement for Practices

A credit card processing integration is required if the practice wants to collect a patient payment or copay when patients check in via the portal.

Contact your Sales representative to set up credit card processing services.

Note for Practices

Practices can customize a check in process by appointment type for patients to complete in the Patient Portal. See Administration: Custom Check-in Processes.

Appointment Check-in Process

1. Do one of the following:

• On the home page, click the Appointment Check-in tile.

• If the patient is already on a portal page, select Upcoming Appointments from the Patient Appointments menu. Under Action, click CHECK IN.

The Pay Patient Bill page opens.

If the practice is charging a fee (shown here as Expected Copay), the patient must choose a payment option to pay the fee before continuing with the check-in process.

Patients can choose to pay online or pay in person. If paying in person, click Pay In Person.

2. If paying online, complete the fields and click Make Payment.
3. Click the check box to authorize payment. 
4. Click Confirm Payment.

The Appointment Check-in page opens.

Patients can complete intake information prior to their appointment. Use the navigation menu at the top of the page to review and fill out each form. Patients can also click a check-in process form link.

5. Click NEXT at the top of the page to continue to navigate the check-in process until it is complete. Patients can also use the navigation menu to select a form to fill out.

Patients do not have to complete all forms to complete the check-in process. When the patient completes a form, a green checkmark appears next to the step. If the patient completes any part of the custom check-in process, the encounter for that appointment will be started.

When patients finish filling out the intake forms, the Complete Check-in Process page opens. They can also select Complete Check-in Process from the menu.

6. Click Complete Check-in Process.

How Patient Portal and EHR Work Together

The table below shows how patient information is updated between EHR and the Patient Portal.

Action Performed in	EHR	Patient Portal
Patient Portal	Updates are automatically added to the patient's encounter summary.	Patient reviews or updates any of the following areas: Family History Medical History Surgical History Social History Immunizations
Patient Portal e- Visit	The encounter is created and the Provider column is populated in Patient Tracker. This acts as the notification that the patient has completed the check-in process and is ready for the provider.  Note: This does not act as a notification if the practice staff started the encounter before the patient started the check-in process.	Patient completes the check-in process.
EHR	Practice staff customizes the quick HPI options during an encounter.	Customizations appear in the check-in process (for example, what is the reason for the visit).
EHR	Practice staff edits the common conditions in Medical History, Family History, or Surgical History.	Changes appear in the respective areas of the check-in process.
EHR or Patient Portal	Allergies, Medication History, and Problem List are always added to the encounter regardless of whether they are part of the patient’s check-in process or whether the encounter was created in the Patient Portal or EHR.

 

See Also: 
Administration: Custom Check-in Processes

 

_{Last Update: 3/28/25}