ChiroTouch is a local-network-based program, which means the day-to-day operations of your practice—charting, scheduling, billing, and outcome tracking—run on the office computer and its connected workstations. When a doctor needs to pull up a record from a hotel room, or an office manager wants to adjust the next morning's schedule while running a personal errand, you need a reliable way to reach that environment from outside the clinic walls. ChiroTouch documentation outlines three methods, presented in order of implementation ease, and the right choice depends on how many people need remote access, how often, and what your IT team is positioned to support.

Three Options Ranked by Setup Complexity

The simplest path is unattended remote access. In this setup, a remote user takes control of the screen on a computer already sitting in the clinic. You do not reconfigure ChiroTouch itself; the software continues running locally, and the remote session simply mirrors the desktop. Because the mechanism relies on third-party remote-desktop software, your local IT professional handles the configuration and ongoing maintenance. This method works well for occasional check-ins—say, a doctor glancing at today's schedule from an airport lounge—without requiring any changes to your network architecture or IP configuration.

The middle option is the iPad application suite. ChiroTouch offers remote-capable apps for Provider, Scheduler, Forms, Outcome Assessments, and the CTIntake service. There is no Front Desk app for iPad, so reception-level tasks still require the office terminal. To make these apps function outside the office, two network prerequisites must be in place: a static public IP address obtained from your ISP and a static IP address assigned to the ChiroTouch server. You will also need to start the Mobile Service Manager service on the server and configure port forwarding on your router so that incoming internet traffic is directed to LAN port 8221. ChiroTouch strongly recommends involving your IT or networking specialist for these steps, because port mapping and static-IP requests demand vendor-specific knowledge that varies by router model and internet provider.

When multiple staff members need simultaneous remote access—perhaps a multi-provider clinic where two doctors and a billing coordinator all work from home on the same day—VPN becomes the most scalable option. A virtual private network creates an encrypted tunnel from each remote device back to the office network, allowing the ChiroTouch programs on a home laptop to communicate directly with the office server. The trade-off is latency: every keystroke and screen refresh travels over the internet, so response times will be noticeably slower than sitting at the office terminal. ChiroTouch notes that a direct site-to-site VPN connection delivers the best performance, but that configuration is only practical when both locations share the same internet service provider.

A few cross-cutting considerations apply regardless of which method you choose. First, ChiroTouch does not provide technical support for terminal workstations or VPN connections; those responsibilities fall under your IT vendor. Second, the firewall on your office network must permit traffic on port 8221 for iPad and web-based features, port 443 for general web traffic, and port 1433 for Microsoft SQL Server communication. Third, if you are evaluating any of these options for a new location or a multi-site practice, build time into your project plan for the static-IP request with your ISP and for the router configuration session with your network administrator. Matching the method to your actual usage pattern—occasional single-user check-in versus daily multi-user remote work—will save both time and IT overhead, and it keeps your team focused on patient care rather than troubleshooting a connection from the wrong end of the office.

Sources and further reading