What this article helps with: What the Provider directory is, the two conditions that decide whether Lia can email an office, how to add and link providers, and how the Preferred star works.
Who this is for: Firm admins who own the directory, and case managers who link providers to their cases.
When not to use this article: This is about the list of offices and their records. For what Lia actually asks those offices for, see Provider Liaison.
Key Terms
Key Terms
What do you mean when you say...
Provider directory = your firm-wide list of doctors, clinics, and therapists.
Linked = a provider attached to one specific client, so Lia knows the office is on that case.
Draft provider = an office a client mentioned that is not in your directory yet, saved for a person to review.
Preferred = the star that makes a provider eligible to be recommended to a client.
What the directory is
The description on the page says it plainly: "Your firm-wide list of doctors, clinics, and therapists. Add providers here, then assign them to individual clients from each client's Treatment tab."
This is the list of offices Lia is allowed to email. Lia will never contact anyone who is not on it. Lia does not search the internet for a clinic, does not guess at an address from a practice name, and does not reuse an address it saw somewhere else. If your firm did not put it here, it does not exist as far as Lia is concerned.
That is deliberate. Provider outreach goes out under your firm's name, so the set of people who can receive it is a list your firm controls.
The list shows NAME, PREFERRED (a star), ADDRESS, CITY / STATE, EMAIL, PHONE, TYPE (tags such as Chiropractor, Physical Therapy, Orthopedic, Imaging, Radiology, Pain Management, Neurologist, Massage Therapy), and CLIENTS, a count of how many clients the office is linked to. You can filter by Status and Preferred, or search.
The directory appears once your firm has either Care Coordination or Provider Liaison enabled. If it is missing entirely, contact your account team.
The two conditions
Before Lia will email an office about a client, both of these have to be true.
The provider is linked to the case. Being in the directory is not enough on its own. Lia has to know this office is involved in this client's treatment.
The provider has an email address on file. Phone number is not a substitute. Lia does not call.
The system enforces both. This is not the agent exercising judgment, it is a rule that cannot be talked around.
Here is what happens in each case where something is missing.
In the directory, not linked to the case
Lia links it and carries on, as long as the record has an email address. Nothing needs doing.
In the directory, no email address
This is the common one, and it is designed to be a 30 second fix. Lia raises an escalation that names the provider and includes a field for the address right there. Type the address in, save, and the request resumes on its own. Nobody has to re-text the client, and nothing that was already in motion is lost.
Meanwhile Lia tells the client the team is following up. It does not tell them it cannot reach the office, and it does not go quiet.
Not in the directory at all
When a client names an office your firm has never recorded, Lia saves what the client said as a draft provider for a staffer to review. That draft cannot be used for anything until someone approves it and adds an email address.
Drafts are the reason clients mentioning new providers is useful rather than noisy. The information lands on the case as something reviewable instead of a line buried in a text thread.
Adding providers
Two buttons sit at the top of the directory.
Add Provider for one at a time, which is what you use when a client turns up at a clinic you have not worked with.
Import CSV for a batch, which is how most firms load the directory at the start.
If you are setting up, import first and then work through the gaps. The WITH AN EMAIL ADDRESS tile on the Provider Liaison settings page is the score to watch, because it is the fraction of your directory Lia can actually write to.
The provider drawer
Clicking a row in the list opens the record.
The drawer holds an Active status chip, Contact with the billing email and phone, Location, Types, and Linked clients, where each client has an unlink control next to it. A Link to client button adds another. Edit Provider and Delete Provider are at the bottom.
The email on this record is the one thing Lia cannot work without. If you only ever check one field when a request stalls, check that one.
Linking a provider to a client
Two routes, same result.
From the client's Treatment tab, a visit whose provider is unknown shows a Link a provider control. This is where case managers do it day to day, because the visit is right in front of them.
From the provider drawer, using Link to client. Useful when you are cleaning up one office's records across several cases.
Admins, Users, and Team Users can all add and edit providers.
The Preferred star and provider recommendations
The star in the PREFERRED column does one job: it makes a provider eligible to be recommended to a client who needs care. Only Admins can mark a provider Preferred. Anyone who can edit providers can fix an address or add an email, but the Preferred list stays with your admins.
Recommendations are switched on in Agent Settings under Lia Respond → Customize, on the Provider recommendations row, described in the product as "Let the agent recommend new providers to clients who need care, it finds nearby providers and helps them get scheduled." Hona enables the capability for your firm first, and then admins configure the behavior.
The rules are narrow on purpose.
Preferred only. A provider without the star is never suggested to a client.
Of the type asked for. A client who needs physical therapy is not shown a radiology group.
Near the client. Distance is part of the filter.
None rather than a thin list. If there are not enough nearby matches, Lia offers nothing and the case manager picks it up. A list of one is worse than no list.
A person approves by default. Suggestions go to the assigned case manager before the client sees them. A case manager can switch their own cases to send automatically.
Preferred and contactable are different things
This one catches people out, so it is worth stating flatly. Marking a provider Preferred does not add an email address. The star governs recommendations. The email governs whether Lia can write to the office.
So a provider can be recommended to a client, the client can go and treat there, and Lia still cannot email that office for the bill or the records. Nothing is broken. The record just has a star and no address.
When you mark a provider Preferred, check the email field in the same visit.
FAQs
A client told Lia about a new clinic. Where did it go?
A client told Lia about a new clinic. Where did it go?
If the office was not already in your directory, Lia saved it as a draft provider for review. Approve it and add an email address, and it becomes usable like any other record.
Why will Lia not email one of our providers?
Why will Lia not email one of our providers?
Either the provider is not linked to that client's case, or the provider record has no email address. Both surface as an escalation naming the office, and the no-email case can be fixed from the escalation itself.
Can Lia find a provider for a client on its own?
Can Lia find a provider for a client on its own?
No. Lia only ever surfaces providers your firm has marked Preferred in this directory, of the right type and near the client, and a case manager approves the suggestion by default. The client chooses.
Where to go next
What is Lia?: the hub article, and how the pieces fit together.
Provider Liaison: collecting attendance, bills, and records: what Lia asks these offices for.
Provider Emails: every conversation Lia has with an office: the firm-wide inbox.
Escalations and drafts: how Lia hands work back to your team: missing emails and draft providers.
Getting started with Lia: access and permissions: roles, permissions, and what only Admins can change.
Conclusion
The directory is the boundary of what Lia can do with provider offices. Keep it loaded, keep email addresses on the records, and link providers to cases as visits happen. If you have questions, chat with our support team or email [email protected].