Clinic roles and permissions
The 11 clinic roles, what each can do, and how to check which role your account holds.
Overview
Every clinic user has exactly one role. The role decides which sections of the app they can see, which actions they can perform, and which records they can edit. There are 11 roles in total, organised in a hierarchy of trust.
The 11 clinic roles
| Role | Hierarchy | Typical scope |
|---|---|---|
| OWNER | 100 | The clinic founder. One per clinic, cannot be reassigned by anyone but Anthropic support. |
| ADMIN | 90 | Trusted lieutenants — can do almost everything except delete the clinic. |
| HR_MANAGER | 75 | HR module only — payroll, attendance, leave, performance. |
| DENTIST | 70 | Clinical work — charting, treatments, prescriptions, referrals. |
| HYGIENIST | 65 | Hygiene-focused clinical work — perio, SRP, hygienist-led visits. |
| THERAPIST | 60 | Allied clinical work — assists with charting, imaging, simple procedures. |
| NURSE | 55 | Vitals, queue, support during procedures. |
| RECEPTIONIST | 50 | Front desk — appointments, check-in, registration, billing collection. |
| BILLING_STAFF | 45 | Invoicing, cash-up, follow-ups, HMO claims. |
| STAFF | 30 | General staff — limited dashboard view, some patient list visibility. |
| VIEWER | 10 | Read-only across the sections they're permitted to see. |
Steps to use this reference
Find your own role. Click your avatar in the top-right of the clinic app. The dropdown shows your name and role next to your photo. Or open Settings → Staff if you're an Admin/Owner — your row is highlighted.
Match your role to the row above. If you're a Hygienist looking at the Settings menu and seeing "Access denied", the table above tells you why — Hygienists don't have Settings access by design.
Cross-check sections vs role. Each clinic article in this docs site shows a Requirements badge listing which roles can perform it. If your role isn't listed, the procedure isn't available to you.
Ask the Owner or Admin if you need a higher role. Role changes happen at Settings → Staff and take effect on the user's next sign-in.
Understand role-based UI hiding. Many sections are simply absent from the navigation if your role can't access them. The HR module doesn't appear for Receptionists; the Billing tab doesn't appear for Hygienists. This is by design — the role gates run before the route is rendered.
Distinguish "role" from "subscription tier". Role decides who can do what within your clinic. Subscription tier decides which features the clinic itself has unlocked. A Dentist on a Starter-tier clinic can't access HR even though Dentists are technically allowed there in the role matrix — HR module is locked at the tier level.
Distinguish "role" from "feature flag". Some features (e.g. Inventory, HMO) are gated by both role and feature flag. Both gates must pass for the feature to appear.
Permission matrix highlights
| Action | OWNER | ADMIN | DENTIST | HYGIENIST | RECEPTIONIST | BILLING_STAFF | HR_MANAGER |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edit clinic settings | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Invite/remove staff | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| View patients | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | (read-only) | ✗ |
| Create/edit patients | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Book/cancel appointments | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Write clinical notes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Write prescriptions | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Create invoice | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | (limited) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Submit HMO claim | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Run payroll | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| View reports | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |