Representatives, Billing Contacts, and Approved Helpers

How to handle situations where someone other than the client helps with billing, scheduling, forms, or portal access.

Many practices work with people who are involved in a client's care or administration without being the client receiving services.

Examples include:

a parent or guardian signing forms for a child
an authorized representative signing forms for a dependent adult
one partner handling payment for a couple
a parent or other billing contact paying for family therapy
a sponsoring organization paying for a consultation group
a personal assistant, care coordinator, or other approved helper managing appointments for a client

PracticeRunner handles these situations through relationships, billing contacts, and specific access decisions. The goal is to let the right person handle the right task without giving broader access than they need.

Separate the role from the client

The person receiving care is not always the person who signs forms, pays invoices, schedules appointments, or receives administrative messages.

When someone else helps, decide what role they have:

Representative: A parent, guardian, or authorized representative who may complete or sign forms for a child or dependent adult.
Billing contact: A person or organization responsible for invoices, payment methods, statements, or payment follow-up.
Scheduling helper: A person approved to request appointments, reschedule, or cancel on behalf of the client.
Message recipient: A person who may receive selected communication from the practice.

These roles can overlap, but they do not have to. A billing contact does not automatically need forms access. A scheduling helper does not automatically need billing or records access. A representative who signs intake documents does not automatically need access to every portal area.

Contacts inside or outside the case

The helper may already be part of the case, or they may be a separate contact.

For example:

In a family case, a parent may be a participant and also the billing contact.
In a child case, a parent may be linked as the forms representative and billing contact.
In a couple case, one partner may manage payment for the shared case.
In an individual case, a personal assistant or care coordinator may be outside the clinical relationship but approved to help with scheduling.
In a consultation group, a sponsoring organization or administrative contact may handle billing without being a consultation participant.

Use the client's relationship section to keep these connections visible to staff.

Forms and signatures

For children and dependent adults, the practice can send intake, forms, and documents to an authorized representative when that fits the practice's consent and access policy.

The representative can complete questionnaires, acknowledge documents, or sign where a representative signature is appropriate.

Use this for:

intake documents
consent or policy acknowledgments
consultation agreements
releases of information
other client-shareable documents or forms

Verify the relationship before giving someone forms access. If the relationship is not verified, keep the request staff-reviewed until the practice confirms what access is appropriate.

Billing contacts

A billing contact can handle invoices, payment methods, statements, and payment follow-up for a client or case.

This is useful when:

a parent pays for a child's treatment
one partner handles payment for a couple
one family member handles payment for a family case
each participant in a group is billed separately
a sponsoring organization pays for a consultation group

Billing access should stay tied to the billing responsibility. A billing contact may need invoice and payment access, but may not need clinical forms, messages, or scheduling access unless the practice grants those separately.

Scheduling helpers

Some clients rely on another person to help with appointments. This might be a parent, guardian, personal assistant, care coordinator, or other approved helper.

When third-party scheduling is enabled, the public scheduler can collect information from someone who is scheduling for:

a child or dependent adult they represent
someone they are helping schedule

PracticeRunner records this as a relationship claim until staff verify it. After verification, the practice can decide whether the helper should be allowed to request appointments, reschedule, cancel, or receive selected appointment communication.

Portal access

Portal access should match the role the person actually has.

Common patterns include:

a representative receives intake and forms for a child
a billing contact can pay invoices or manage a saved payment method
a scheduling helper can request or change appointments
a client keeps direct access to messages and forms while another person handles billing

Keep access narrow when possible. If a person only needs to manage appointments, do not also give forms, billing, or message access unless there is a clear reason.

Staff review and verification

When someone claims they are helping or representing the client, staff should verify the relationship before granting access.

Review:

who the person is
how they are connected to the client
whether the client or legal representative has authorized the access
which workflow they need access to, such as forms, billing, scheduling, portal, or messages
whether the access should be temporary or ongoing

If the relationship is unclear, keep the request limited and handle follow-up manually.