How patients interact with your hospital
Patients do not log in to LeapHealthOS. Learn the channels they do use: front desk, WhatsApp AI booking, messages, action links and public forms.
LeapHealthOS is used by your staff. Patients do not have a login, an app or a patient portal. Instead, they reach your hospital through a few channels that all feed into the same patient record your staff see. This page explains each channel, what a patient can and cannot do through it, and what you need to set up.
It is written for administrators deciding how patients will book and stay in touch, and for front-desk staff who answer patients' questions about messages and links.
The channels at a glance
Channel | What the patient can do | What you set up |
|---|---|---|
Front desk and phone | Anything: staff register the patient, book, check in, bill and collect payment for them. | Staff accounts and the booking setup. See First-time setup checklist. |
WhatsApp AI booking assistant | Register themselves or a family member, find a doctor and a slot, book, reschedule or cancel an appointment, and get an online payment link. | A WhatsApp AI booking assistant, set up by your implementation team. See Hospital AI booking tools for WhatsApp agents. |
Messages from notification rules | Receive confirmations, reminders and updates about their appointments and bills on WhatsApp or email. | Notification rules for patient targets. See Notification rules. |
Journey messages and action links | Receive messages from a care pathway, and with one tap confirm, cancel, reschedule or pay for an appointment, or answer a form. | Journeys and message templates. See Patient action links. |
Public forms | Fill in a form from a web link without logging in. | A published form and its link. See Public forms. |
There is no patient portal
Earlier documentation described a patient portal where patients log in, book, view records and pay bills. That portal does not exist. Patients cannot view their clinical records, prescriptions, reports or bills online through LeapHealthOS.
Patients and their families
One phone number often belongs to a whole family, for example a parent who books for themselves and their children. Register each person as their own patient profile and link them as family members on the patient profile's Family tab. The WhatsApp booking assistant can then book for a spouse or child once they are linked. See The patient profile.
Keep phone numbers and family links tidy
When a family shares one phone number, register each person under that number and link them on the Family tab. Patients then see each person by name when they book through WhatsApp, and staff find the whole family from one number in Quick Add Patient.
Booking without staff: the WhatsApp AI assistant
The only way patients book on their own today is through a WhatsApp AI booking assistant that your organisation runs. The assistant uses LeapHealthOS to look up clinics, doctors, services and open slots, and to create, move and cancel appointments. Bookings made this way follow the same rules as any other booking (slot availability, approval, payment holds, cancellation and reschedule policies) and appear in All Appointments like any other appointment.
To help patients start a conversation, staff can share the clinic's WhatsApp invite link from their profile menu with Copy your invite link. See Roles, navigation and switchers.
Messages and links
Patients receive messages from two sources:
- Notification rules send event-driven messages, such as a booking confirmation or an appointment reminder, to the patient on the channels the rule allows. See Notification events and recipient strategies and Appointment reminders.
- Journeys send messages as part of a care pathway. A journey message can contain an action link, a form to answer on WhatsApp, or a link to sign a document. See What patients receive: messages, action links and signing.
Journey messages respect the patient's consent and your quiet hours, so a message may be held until morning or not sent at all. Journey messages use the patient's Language for messages (set on the patient profile) when a template in that language exists.
SMS
SMS can be selected as a channel in notification rules, but SMS messages are not sent today. Use WhatsApp or email for messages patients must receive.
Action links
An action link is a web link inside a message. The patient taps it and sees one simple page: confirm the appointment, cancel it, pick a new time, continue to payment, or answer a short form. No login is needed. See Patient action links.
Public forms
A public form is a web page that shows one of your published forms to the people you share its link with, such as a feedback or enquiry form. Answers are saved as form responses, not linked to an appointment or journey. See Public forms.
Which channel should I use?
You want patients to... | Use |
|---|---|
Book, reschedule or cancel on their own at any time | The WhatsApp AI booking assistant |
Confirm, cancel or move one specific appointment | A journey message with a confirm, cancel or reschedule action link |
Pay for an online booking | The payment link the booking returns, or a pay action link |
Answer questions as part of a care pathway | A journey form (an action link form or a WhatsApp form), so the journey can act on the answers |
Fill in a general form not tied to a visit | A public form |
Common questions
Related pages
- Hospital AI booking tools for WhatsApp agents
- Patient action links
- Public forms
- Finding and registering patients
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