Finding your way around the patient chart

The patient chart is where you review one patient’s record and move between their visits, messages, forms, billing, labs and clinical history when those sections are available. In the left sidebar, click Patients, then open a patient to enter the chart.

What is the patient chart in Ona?

Open a patient chart: in the left sidebar, click Patients, then click the patient's name. The patient chart is the home for one patient’s care and administrative record.

The chart has a patient sidebar on the left and the selected section on the right. The top of the sidebar shows the patient’s name, avatar or initials, status, date of birth and age when available, email, phone, and Patient Information for a quick information panel. When insurance is enabled, the sidebar can also show eligibility. The patient balance appears in the sidebar as a balance pill.

The chart opens on Summary. Use Summary when you want the fastest clinical overview before a visit or while reviewing a record. Depending on your organization’s charting setup, it can show the patient briefing, vitals, diagnoses, observations, allergies, medications, supplements, recommendations, procedures and generated notes. The Summary also includes media and a View timeline button.

When should I use Patients instead of the patient chart?

In the left sidebar, click Patients. Use the patient list when you need to find, filter or review records across the practice. Open an individual patient when you are ready to work in that patient’s chart.

Owners, admins and staff also see operational tools on Patients, including tag management, analytics and duplicate detection. Clinicians do not see those operational tools from Patients.

If possible duplicates are found, owners, admins and staff can review them from the duplicate notice. The review shows matching records side by side, lets you choose the record to keep, and can merge or dismiss groups. When records are merged, visits, notes, invoices, claims, messages, forms and files move to the kept record, blank details are filled from the others, and the other records are archived. This cannot be undone from the merge dialog. See Finding and merging duplicate patients for the merge workflow.

How does the patient chart work?

Open a patient chart: in the left sidebar, click Patients, then click the patient's name. The chart sidebar is the table of contents for that patient. Click a section to switch what you are viewing.

The chart includes Summary, Visits, Notebook, Tasks, Omnichannel, Consents, Forms, Interviews, Invoices and Details & Settings. Details & Settings stays pinned at the bottom of the sidebar so you can reach the patient’s profile and settings without scrolling.

Some sections appear only when your practice has that feature turned on. These can include Cases, Care Plans, Lab Reports, Lab Orders, Supplements, DoseSpot, Food Journal, Care Time and Memberships.

Role also affects a few sections. Claims appears only for owners, admins and staff when insurance features are turned on. Faxes appears only for owners, admins and staff when faxing is turned on. Referrals appears when faxing is turned on.

At the bottom of the sidebar, the patient’s MRN appears when one is set. If none is set, the sidebar shows No MRN. The patient export menu is also at the bottom of the chart sidebar.

How does Summary help before or during care?

Open a patient chart: in the left sidebar, click Patients, then click the patient's name. In the patient chart sidebar, click Summary. Use the Summary to scan the patient’s current chart without opening each section one by one.

The Summary brings together the clinical sections that are enabled for your organization. It can include vitals, diagnoses, observations, allergies, medications, supplements, recommendations, procedures, generated notes and media.

Click View timeline to open a right-side sheet that lists visits and observations by day. Visit cards can show the visit title, status, clinician, duration and briefing text. When a visit has clinical records, expand the clinical record count to see related diagnoses, observations, allergies and recommendations. Click a visit in the timeline to open that visit.

What is in Details & Settings?

Open a patient chart: in the left sidebar, click Patients, then click the patient's name. In the patient chart sidebar, click Details & Settings. Use patient settings for profile and administrative maintenance that is separate from the clinical Summary.

Use Details & Settings when you need to review or maintain the patient record outside visit review. Use the status and tags workflows when you need to organize patients for front-desk or operational follow-up. See Patient statuses and tags for how those labels are used.

What changes by role or enabled feature?

Open a patient chart: in the left sidebar, click Patients, then click the patient's name. The chart changes based on your role and the features enabled for your organization.

Owners and admins have the administrative dashboard surface. Staff have the operational surface without organization settings. Clinicians have a scoped clinical surface and do not see operational chart links such as Claims or Faxes.

Feature settings control which specialty sections appear. For example, lab features add Lab Reports and Lab Orders. Supplements add Supplements. Care Time adds Care Time. Memberships add Memberships. Insurance adds eligibility and can add Claims for owners, admins and staff.

If a section is not in the sidebar, it may not be enabled for your organization or available to your role.

Common questions

Why do I see different patient chart sections than another teammate?

Your role and your organization’s enabled features control the sidebar. For example, clinicians do not see operational Claims or Faxes links, and feature-specific sections appear only when those features are turned on.

Where do I see patient information quickly?

Open a patient chart: in the left sidebar, click Patients, then click the patient's name. Use the patient header in the chart sidebar. For more detail, click Patient Information or open Details & Settings.

Where do I see the patient’s visits and observations over time?

Open a patient chart: in the left sidebar, click Patients, then click the patient's name. In the patient chart sidebar, click Summary, then click View timeline. The timeline groups visits and observations by day and lets you open a visit from the timeline.

Why does the sidebar show No MRN?

The bottom of the patient chart sidebar shows the patient’s medical record number when one is set. If none is set, it shows No MRN.

Can I export a patient’s data from the chart?

Yes. Open a patient chart: in the left sidebar, click Patients, then click the patient's name. Use the export menu at the bottom of the chart sidebar. See Archiving, restoring and exporting patient data for the full export workflow.