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Quick start

warning

RehabAlpha is still under active development. It is not yet HIPAA compliant and should only be used with dummy data.

New to the platform? This quick tutorial covers the essentials and helps you get familiar with RehabAlpha in just a few minutes. 😊

This guide uses two accounts:

  • Owner: your first account, used to set up the therapy company and change its schema.
  • Renee Hart: a second account you will invite as a therapist, used to write and sign the evaluation.

Stay signed in as the owner through step 8. When instructed to switch accounts, choose Sign out from the account menu, sign in with the other account's email address, and select the same organization.

1. Sign up​

Go to rehabalpha.com/signup. Enter your first name, last name, email address, and password, then click Sign up.

Check your inbox for a verification email from [email protected]. Click the confirmation link in the email, return to RehabAlpha, then click I have verified my email.

Set up two-factor authentication by entering your 10-digit US phone number and clicking Send Code. When the text message arrives, enter the 6-digit verification code and click Complete Sign Up.

Wait a few seconds while RehabAlpha provisions your account... and boom, you're in! Welcome to the future of therapy management 🎉

Didn't receive the verification email?

Check your spam folder, then click Resend verification email if you still do not see it. 👀

2. Create an organization​

After signing up, RehabAlpha opens your account page. To follow this guide, create a test workspace with sample data:

  1. Click Create a test organization.
  2. Select Minimal places of service.

You are now the organization's Owner. Continue with this account for the setup steps below.

Test organizations are temporary. RehabAlpha checks them daily and permanently deletes those with no qualifying saved activity in the preceding seven days by default. Browsing and autosaved drafts do not keep them active. See automatic deletion of test organizations for details and limitations.

This template includes three small facilities. Each facility has three patients. Across the organization, there is one occupational therapist, one physical therapist, and one speech-language pathologist.

important

Your RehabAlpha account can be associated with multiple organizations. You can switch between them using the dropdown at the top left.

The dashboard​

The dashboard is your command center. It might be empty now, but as you work, it'll populate with important info and alerts. Your dashboard displays two main sections:

  1. Notices - stuff that needs your attention (expiring licenses, missing info, etc.)
  2. Upcoming - treatments and appointments

The sidebar​

The sidebar has two sections: Your and Organization.

  • Your = pages just for you
  • Organization = pages for everyone

For example, links to your profile and your dashboard appear under Your. Use People to find the organization's staff and patients, and use Facilities for facility-specific workflows.

To manage your work hours, open Timesheet in the organization sidebar. Select Clock in or Clock out now to track your shift, or View timesheet to review your hours. See Use timesheets for manual entries, PTO, and corrections.

3. Add a facility​

Click Facilities in the sidebar. Then click New facility.

Fill out:

  • Name: Rosewood Nursing
  • Default place of service: 31 - Skilled Nursing Facility
  • State: Louisiana

Click Save. RehabAlpha opens the Rosewood Nursing facility page and creates two related records:

  • Rosewood Nursing, the facility that organizes patients, schedules, and other facility workflows
  • Default service location, the specific setting where therapy services are furnished

The generated service location uses the facility's location details and the selected Place of Service. A facility can contain multiple service locations when care is provided in different settings. For example, a single facility could have three different service locations, like this 👇

Add a second service location​

  1. On the Rosewood Nursing facility page, click Locations.
  2. Click New service location.
  3. Enter Assisted living wing for Name.
  4. Select 13 - Assisted Living Facility for Place of Service.
  5. Review the location details copied from Rosewood Nursing, then click Save.

Rosewood Nursing now has separate service locations for skilled nursing and assisted living. Select the service location where care occurs when completing billing and clinical records.

4. Add a payor​

From the sidebar, click Payors → New payor.

Fill out:

  • Name: Aetna Rehab
  • Type: Commercial insurance
  • Payment model: Medicare Part B MPFS

Then click Save to create the payor.

5. Add a physician​

From the sidebar, click People → Physicians → New physician.

Fill out:

Then click Save to create the physician.

6. Add a therapist​

From the sidebar, click People → Therapists → New therapist.

Fill out:

  • First name: Renee
  • Last name: Hart

Click Save to create the therapist.

Add a license​

From the sidebar, click People → Therapists. Find and click Renee in the list of therapists. Click Edit → scroll to Licenses → Add license.

Fill out:

  • State: Louisiana
  • Licensure: Physical therapist
  • License #: 123
  • Effective: <pick yesterday's date>
  • Expiration: <pick tomorrow's date>

Then click Save.

Why set Expiration as tomorrow's date?

This gives us a chance to show off RehabAlpha's compliance review system. Throughout the app, RehabAlpha will warn you that Renee's license expires soon.

Invite the therapist as a user​

Renee is a member of your therapy company; specifically a member whose role is "Therapist". That means Renee can be assigned to clinical documents, included in events, etc. However, Renee is not yet tied to a user account meaning there is no human user who directly controls Renee's actions within RehabAlpha.

To link "Renee, the member of your organization" to "Renee, the human user", send her an email invitation.

  1. Open Renee's Settings page.
  2. Click Invite user.
  3. In Email invitation to, enter another email address that you control.
  4. Click Send invitation. Do not accept the invitation yet.
Use a Gmail alias

If your address is [email protected], you can invite [email protected]. Gmail delivers messages for both addresses to the same inbox, while RehabAlpha treats them as separate accounts.

If you need to test additional accounts, use [email protected], [email protected], ...

Adjust the therapist's permissions​

While signed in as the owner, set Renee's permissions:

  1. On Renee's Settings page, find Permissions.
  2. Select Custom access for Access level.
  3. Under Facility access, select All facilities.
  4. Select Therapist for Facility profile.
  5. Click Save.

Keep the invitation email for step 9. Stay signed in as the owner to add Curly, his admission and billing episode, and his therapy case.

7. Add a patient​

From the sidebar, click Facilities → Rosewood Nursing → Patients → New patient.

Fill out:

  • First name: Curly
  • Last name: Howard

Then click Save to create the patient. RehabAlpha opens Curly's new-admission form. The admission automatically belongs to Rosewood Nursing and uses that facility's time zone.

Add an admission​

On the new-admission form, fill out:

  • Admit date: 01/01/2025

In the Physician section, click Add physician → select Dr. John Zoidberg from the dropdown.

Add a billing episode​

Billing episodes tell RehabAlpha who's paying for therapy during a patient's admission. (That's an over-simplification, but roll with it for now!)

Scroll down to Billing episodes → Add billing episode.

Fill out:

  • Primary payor: Medicare Part B

Then click Save to create the admission.

8. Add a therapy case​

A therapy case serves as a parent folder for related clinical documents, including:

  • evaluation
  • treatments
  • progress reports
  • re-evaluations
  • discharge

Therapy cases in RehabAlpha are discipline-specific; you can set up an OT case, a PT case, or an SLP case.

From the sidebar, click Facilities → Rosewood Nursing. Find Curly in the list, then click on the green admission badge dated January 1, 2025.

Within the Therapy cases section, click New case.

Fill out:

  • Discipline: Physical Therapy

Click Save to create the case.

9. Accept Renee's invitation to join your therapy company​

Sign out of the owner account, then open Renee's invitation email sent in the earlier step, Invite the therapist as a user. Follow the link to create a second account using the invited email address. Complete email verification and two-factor authentication, then join the organization as Renee.

Clock in​

Before starting the evaluation, click Timesheet in the organization sidebar, then click Clock in. In the dialog, review or select Regular Hours, choose Rosewood Nursing as her Work location, and select the service location where she is working. Click Clock in to confirm and start tracking her work time. Confirm the location shown with her clock status. If the menu already says Clock out now, she is already clocked in.

When Renee finishes work or takes an unpaid break, select Clock out now. Signing out does not clock her out. Use timesheets for manual corrections and Configure timesheets for clock-in settings.

10. Add an evaluation​

From the sidebar, click Facilities → Rosewood Nursing. Find Curly in the list of patients, then click the green case badge labeled "PT".

Then click Evaluation to start a physical therapy evaluation. RehabAlpha automatically selects Renee Hart as the therapist because you are signed in as Renee and her license matches the PT discipline.

Overview​

The evaluation form is a complex beast. Before we start filling it out, let's discuss a few things..

  1. The evaluation is one of five different types of clinical documents.

    1. evaluation
    2. treatment
    3. progress report
    4. re-evaluation
    5. discharge

  2. Every clinical document begins with an "AI context" box that you can use to get AI suggestions for the document's content.

  3. Clinical documents are customizable. If you don't like the way our default evaluation form looks, you can change it!

Add a medical diagnosis​

Scroll down to the Medical diagnoses section.

Click Add diagnosis. Type “right knee” → select M17.11.

Set Onset date to 01/01/2025.

Implement a custom evaluation template​

Your organization can customize clinical forms with templates. Renee can use these templates, but her Therapist access does not allow schema changes. Use the owner account for that part:

  1. While signed in as Renee, in Basic details → Custom data template, click Default evaluation template to deselect it. The custom fields disappear.
  2. Scroll to the bottom and click Save.
  3. Sign out of Renee's account and sign in as the owner. Select the same organization.
  4. Open Schema from the sidebar.
  5. Select all text in the editor (Ctrl+A or Cmd+A) and replace it with this JSON schema:
[
  {
    id: 'pt_snf_evaluation_template',
    type: 'template',
    label: 'PT SNF Evaluation',
    appliesTo: 'evaluation',
    priority: 1,
    children: ['pt_snf_evaluation_group'],
  },

  {
    id: 'yes_no_options',
    type: 'options',
    items: [
      { label: 'Yes', value: 'yes' },
      { label: 'No', value: 'no' },
    ],
  },

  {
    id: 'pt_snf_evaluation_group',
    type: 'group',
    label: 'Physical Therapy Evaluation',
    description: 'Focused evaluation for physical therapy in a skilled nursing facility.',
    showIf: {
      all: [
        { field: '*disciplineId', equals: 'PT' },
        { field: '*placeOfServiceId', equals: '31' },
      ],
    },
    children: ['subjective_group', 'pain_group', 'knee_rom_group'],
  },

  {
    id: 'subjective_group',
    type: 'group',
    label: 'Subjective',
    description: 'Information reported by the patient, caregiver, or chart review.',
    children: ['chief_complaint', 'history'],
  },

  {
    id: 'pain_group',
    type: 'group',
    label: 'Pain',
    children: ['has_pain', 'pain_location', 'pain_level'],
  },

  {
    id: 'knee_rom_group',
    type: 'group',
    label: 'Knee Range of Motion',
    description: 'Enter knee range of motion in degrees.',
    children: [
      'right_knee_flexion',
      'right_knee_extension',
      'left_knee_flexion',
      'left_knee_extension',
    ],
  },

  {
    id: 'chief_complaint',
    type: 'textInput',
    label: 'Chief Complaint',
    placeholder: 'e.g. Difficulty walking after right knee replacement',
    isRequiredToSave: true,
  },

  {
    id: 'history',
    type: 'textAreaInput',
    label: 'History',
    placeholder: 'Document relevant history, prior level of function, recent hospital course, and current concerns.',
  },

  {
    id: 'has_pain',
    type: 'selectInput',
    label: 'Is pain present?',
    options: 'yes_no_options',
    isRequiredToSave: true,
  },

  {
    id: 'pain_location',
    type: 'textInput',
    label: 'Pain Location',
    placeholder: 'e.g. Right anterior knee',
    showIf: { field: 'has_pain', equals: 'yes' },
  },

  {
    id: 'pain_level',
    type: 'numberInput',
    label: 'Pain Level',
    tooltip: 'Use a 0 to 10 pain scale.',
    min: 0,
    max: 10,
    isInteger: true,
    showIf: { field: 'has_pain', equals: 'yes' },
  },

  {
    id: 'right_knee_flexion',
    type: 'numberInput',
    label: 'Right Knee Flexion',
    tooltip: 'Enter degrees.',
    min: 0,
    max: 180,
    isInteger: true,
  },

  {
    id: 'right_knee_extension',
    type: 'numberInput',
    label: 'Right Knee Extension',
    tooltip: 'Enter degrees.',
    min: -30,
    max: 30,
    isInteger: true,
  },

  {
    id: 'left_knee_flexion',
    type: 'numberInput',
    label: 'Left Knee Flexion',
    tooltip: 'Enter degrees.',
    min: 0,
    max: 180,
    isInteger: true,
  },

  {
    id: 'left_knee_extension',
    type: 'numberInput',
    label: 'Left Knee Extension',
    tooltip: 'Enter degrees.',
    min: -30,
    max: 30,
    isInteger: true,
  },
]

Click Save below the editor. Switch back to Renee and select the same organization, then return to Curly's evaluation: Facilities → Rosewood Nursing → Curly's PT badge → Timeline → Evaluation → Edit.

In Basic details, set Custom data template to PT SNF Evaluation. The new section includes subjective, pain, and knee range of motion fields.

Set Is pain present? to Yes to reveal Pain Location and Pain Level through conditional logic.

Generate AI suggestions​

Stay signed in as Renee to complete, review, and sign the evaluation.

At the top of the evaluation, paste this into AI context:

Pt is a 71 y/o M w/ hx R TKR, recently admitted s/p hospitalization for fall.

Click Make AI suggestions. When suggestions are ready, hover over a magic wand icon 🪄 to review the suggestion and its reason. Click it to apply the suggestion.

  • AI uses your context, form entries, and related patient records, including admissions and therapy cases.
  • Use the dictation button 🎤 to speak instead of type, including a full evaluation with the patient's consent.
  • Review all suggestions carefully; AI can make mistakes.

Add a treatment plan​

In Treatment plan, set Include a treatment plan? to Yes. Click the rule-based suggestion 📏 starting with 3 treatments per week for 4 weeks.

Select these treatment CPT codes:

  • 97110 Therapeutic exercises
  • 97112 Neuromuscular reeducation

Complete the service log​

The Service log lists billable services. Click Add service item and choose CPT code 97161.

Save and review​

Click Save, then Case details at the top of the evaluation page. Open Timeline to see your evaluation and the treatments generated from the treatment plan. Click a card to review or edit a document.

Sign the document and request a physician signature​

Open the evaluation from the case timeline and scroll to Signatures. The therapist is a required signer by default; evaluations and re-evaluations also require a physician. Use the owner account if you need to add or remove required signers.

While signed in as Renee, sign her evaluation:

  1. Click create a signing PIN in the banner and set up Renee's six-digit PIN.
  2. On Renee's signer card, click Sign document.
  3. Review the document, confirm the attestation, enter Renee's PIN, and click Sign.

To request Dr. Zoidberg's signature, switch to the owner and reopen the evaluation's Signatures section. Renee's Therapist access lets her sign, but does not let her send signature requests.

The recipient needs a physician or therapist profile and a valid email address. No user invitation or account setup is required. An Owner or Admin must designate any authorized signer before you can send a request to that person on the physician's behalf:

  1. On his signer card, click Request signature.
  2. Choose Dr. Zoidberg or an authorized signer, confirm the recipient's email address, and click Send request.
  3. The recipient opens the emailed signing link, reviews the document, accepts the signature attestation, and clicks Sign. They do not need an account, active membership, facility signing permissions, or a signing PIN. Keep the link private: anyone who has it can review and sign the document.

Dr. Zoidberg's card then shows a green Signed badge.

11. Review schedules​

Sign in as Renee to review the schedule. If you switched to the owner for the physician signature request, switch back now.

Treatments generated from the evaluation's treatment plan appear in the patient, therapist, and facility schedules.

Open Facilities → Rosewood Nursing → Schedule to see Curly's treatments and assigned therapists. Use the schedule filters to narrow the results, or switch between calendar, list, and stats views.

Next steps​

Ready for more? Dive into the Guides to explore everything RehabAlpha can do.