Note: Identity verification is rolling out to patients and providers across Headway in phases over the coming weeks. As a group administrator, you'll play a key role in supporting your practice through this process.
This article covers what you'll see, what your responsibilities are, and how to track completion across your team.
Identity verification is a step Headway uses to confirm that patients and providers are who they say they are. The process involves uploading a government-issued photo ID and completing a brief facial scan. The process typically takes 2–3 minutes.
Who in your practice is required to complete identity verification
Identity verification is rolling out in phases:
- Patients of prescribers in your practice — rolling out now, in waves, to new and existing adult patients. Minor patients of prescribers will follow. Patients of talk therapists in your practice are not currently in scope.
- All providers in your practice — both prescribing and non-prescribing providers will be required to complete their own identity verification. You'll receive a separate notification when this phase begins for your group.
Why we do this
Identity verification helps prevent potential fraud, including stolen credentials, borrowed identities, med-seeking, and impersonation via sophisticated AI tools and face filters. Once complete, your providers and patients will have a tamper-proof identity record that supports your practice in any payer or regulatory audit.
Your role as a group administrator
As a group administrator, you are Headway's primary point of contact for your practice during the provider identity verification phase. Here's what that means:
- For patient identity verification: Headway notifies patients directly. You don't need to initiate the process — but you can monitor completion across your practice and support providers in following up with patients who haven't verified.
- For provider identity verification: Your providers will not receive a separate notification from Headway. You will have a tool to send a link to the identity verification flow to providers in your practice with a verification requirement, as well as monitor their status.
What you'll see in your admin dashboard
Patient identity verification status
Patient verification status is managed on your 'Clients' tab. Just like missing paperwork or billing information, incomplete identity verification will trigger the "Attention needed" badge next to the client name on the Clients tab of your dashboard. Click on any client to see what issues require addressing.
Provider identity verification status
Once provider identity verification begins for your practice, you can see the status for providers in your practice from the 'Manage team' tab of your dashboard. If identity verification is incomplete for a provider, they will have one of the following badges next to their name:
- ID verification not sent: shows if the identity verification link hasn't been sent yet
- ID verification in progress: shows if identity verification request has been sent, but not completed
- ID verification past due: shows if identity verification hasn't been completed by due date
- ID verification failed: shows if identity verification failed; this may require technical troubleshooting with our support team
Communicating identity verification to your team
When provider identity verification begins, your admin dashboard will have a notice at the top of the 'Manage team' tab letting you know. From that tab, you can click the 'Send link to providers' button to go through a flow to confirm email addresses and send a bulk identity verification notice to your providers. The notice includes a link that providers can use to complete identity verification without ever logging into a Headway portal.
What happens if a patient doesn't complete identity verification
Patient enforcement depends on how the appointment was booked:
- If the patient booked the appointment: identity verification must be complete before the provider's cancellation window, or the appointment will be automatically canceled. The patient can rebook once verification is complete.
- If the provider or admin booked the appointment: identity verification must be complete for the provider to confirm the session. The provider can walk the patient through the verification process during the session if needed.
What happens if a provider doesn't complete identity verification
If a provider's identity verification isn't completed by the deadline, they may be unable to confirm sessions with patients on Headway.
Still need help? Contact Headway support with a description of the issue you or your team is facing.
For client-facing issues, direct your providers to the How identity verification affects your clients Help Center article.