What it is
Session summaries give clients a short, written recap of a session — a reminder of what you covered and what to focus on before you meet again. You can write the summary yourself, or use Rula Recap to generate a draft that you review and edit before sharing.
Currently, the Rula Patient App and accompanying Rula provider portal features for providers is available to a small group of patients as we continue to test the experience and gather feedback. We’ll let you and your patients know when it becomes available more broadly.
What's in a session summary
Each session summary covers only the session that just ended and has three parts:
- What we covered: The key topics, learnings, and encouragement from the session.
- What to carry forward: The actions and approaches your client might reach for in the week ahead.
- Resources: your selection of guided exercises and educational articles to share with your client
How to write & edit a summary
You can find the client summary in the session workflow of the Provider Portal, located alongside your clinical note under the tab ‘summary for client’.
Writing the Summary
When Rula Recap is active for a session, it creates a draft summary about one to two minutes after the session ends. The draft includes key takeaways and information your client may want to revisit between sessions. You can review and edit the draft, then choose whether to share it with your client. A summary is only visible to your client after you choose to share it.
You can also skip the Recap draft and write a summary yourself at any time.
Note: If Recap is active for the session, wait for the draft to load before you begin writing. Anything entered before the draft appears will be overwritten.
Editing, Sharing & Managing Summaries
- Review and edit: You retain full ownership of the final summary. There are no length or formatting limits, and your edits save frequently so you can step away and finish later.
- Send summary to client: Select send summary to client. The summary will be delivered to the clients Rula Patient App.
- 48-hour window: Summaries close 48 hours after the session ends. After this window passes, they can no longer be edited or shared.
When your client receives it
Clients only receive summaries between 9am and 5pm in their local time. If you approve one outside that window, it's delivered at the next 9am local time, including on weekends. Your client is notified by email and, if they use the mobile app with notifications on, a push notification. The notification itself only prompts them to view the summary; it never contains any session details.
When a draft isn't generated
An AI draft is only created for English-language sessions with adult (18+) individual therapy clients, transcribed by Rula Recap, where the transcript meets quality standards. If a draft can't be generated, you'll see a short explanation (for example, "Rula Recap not used" or "Transcription error"), and you can still write a summary yourself.
FAQ
Can I attach additional resources (e.g., worksheets, links)?
- Not at this time. We are exploring this for future updates.
Can patients access resources on the web?
- Resources can only be opened and completed in the Rula mobile app. If a resource is included in a session summary, patients can see it referenced in the web-based summary, but they’ll need the mobile app to access the resource itself.
Do I need to get new consent from clients to send summaries?
- No, summaries are generated by Rula Recap so the client’s Recap consent covers summary generation.
Can I edit the summary after I send it to the client?
- No, there’s currently no way to edit or remove the summary after you send it, so please review it carefully and ensure all your edits are included before you send it to your clients.
Are the summaries a part of a client’s medical record?
- Yes, summaries shared with clients are stored as part of the medical record.
If a client makes a records request, would summaries be included?
- Yes, shared summaries are part of the client’s medical records and may be included in an applicable medical records request.
How are summaries kept confidential?
- Rula maintains administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect confidential clinical information, including the information within session summaries. Our practices encompass:
- HIPAA-aligned privacy and security practices
- Privacy and confidentiality training
- Role-based access controls
- Minimum necessary standards for use and disclosure
- Security and monitoring processes designed to help prevent unauthorized access or disclosure
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