How to run a patient's treatment plan
From draft through phases to discharge. When to advance a phase, how to measure a goal with a scale, and why the patient sees nothing until you activate the plan.
A treatment plan divides one patient's care into phases: each has a description, an estimated duration, criteria for advancing to the next, and linked programmes and appointments. You run it across the whole course of care and end it with a discharge. This guide walks that whole route once, from an empty screen to closing the plan.
How to do it
Create the plan
Treatment plans → New plan offers two routes: From scratch and With AI.
The From scratch route has four steps: Patient & diagnosis (finding the patient, the ICD-10 code, the diagnosis description), Plan details (title, overall goals, start date and estimated end date), Phases, and Review & create.
The With AI route asks for a description of the diagnosis and proposes a phase structure with goals. Above the suggestion stands the warning AI suggestion — review before saving. Read every phase and every goal — you answer for the content, not the model.
The bar at the top shows which of the four steps you are on — that is two in the drawing. Under three are the fields of the current step. The plan does not exist until you confirm the last step, so going back breaks nothing.
Build the phases
Every phase has a Title (hint: e.g. Acute Phase), a Description, an Estimated Duration (weeks) and Advancement Criteria — one per line, for instance Full weight bearing or pain < 3/10. In the plan the patient sees, they appear as a checklist.
You link ready exercise programmes to a phase with Link Program and appointments with Link Appointment. Removing a phase unlinks both but deletes nothing.
Set measurable goals
Outcome Goals tie a phase to a measurement scale. You pick the scale, the comparison — ≤ (at most), ≥ (at least) or = (exactly) — and the target and baseline values.
Each goal shows a Target, a Current value, and its state: Goal achieved or Not yet achieved. The current value comes from saved assessments, not from a manual entry — for a goal to move, a new assessment has to exist.
Activate the plan
Activate Plan flips the draft to active and starts the first phase. From that moment the patient sees the plan in the portal — while the plan is a draft they do not see it at all.
A plan has six states: Draft, Active, On Hold, Completed, Discharged and Cancelled.
Advance between phases once the criteria are met
Advance to Next Phase closes the current one and opens the next. Heltio asks for confirmation and names both phases. On the last phase the question reads differently: Mark the last phase as completed. Ready to discharge?.
The plan header shows which phase you are in and how many days have passed since the start — the simplest check on whether the therapy is moving at the pace you assumed.
Discharge the patient
Discharge Patient opens a form with Discharge Criteria to tick off and a Discharge Notes field. The notes are required — summarise the outcome of the therapy and the recommendations going forward.
Find the plan later and export it
The Treatment plans list has search by patient and title, and filters for status, practitioner, diagnosis code and start-date range. The columns include Phase, Goal progress, Adherence and Last assessment.
From the list you can also act in bulk: Mark on hold, Archive and Bulk export PDFs. A single plan is exported with Export PDF — the document carries the phases, the criteria, the clinical goals and space for the therapist's and the patient's signatures.
When something does not work
The patient cannot see the plan in the portal
What this means: The plan is still in the **Draft** state. The patient sees it only after activation.
A goal shows “Not yet achieved” even though the patient has improved
What this means: A goal's current value comes from saved assessments. With no new assessment the goal has nowhere to get a new number from.
Removing a phase took the links with it
What this means: Removing a phase unlinks the programmes and appointments from it.
Who has access
PractitionerThe plan is run by the person treating the patient. Reception does not edit plans.
Related
- Treatment plans and phases — the full description of every field and state.
- Plan templates — for when the same phase structure recurs with the next patient.
- How to schedule a series of visits — when a phase needs regular appointments.