Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Updox Portal and Children

I am wondering how the portal can work for my pediatric patients, and also for husband and wife with the same email address. If I put a mother's email in for 2 children on their charts, will this cause problems with Updox, as 3 people would be linked to that email address? Has anyone tried this? ... multiple patients, one email.

Yes I have tried this and it works, but not for children less than 18 but grown children of adults and husbands and wives with same e-mail address. Due to HIPAA everyone has to have a separate user name and separate password, but can have same e-mail, but these are assigned by Udpox.

So you are saying it works, but you have not tried it for kids?... Or it doesn't work for kids? I will give it a try, as it sounds like a non-issue. People can log in with a different name, to different portal accounts, but have the same email it sounds like..

Sorry, no kids under 18 in my practice. It works, but I have not tried it on kids under 18.

Updox will use the email address for the first person who has an email address then it will assign as random number for the next user, and so on. The notifications will come to the same email address stating who the email is for. I ran across a family member button in my profile on a patient the other day and emailed Updox about it and this was their response so it does look like they are going to improve this part:

Hi Joel, this is actually an upcoming feature. (Basically, it will let you to grant other people access to your portal account). The profile page was accidentally updated too soon to include the button (but not the actual configuration screen).

I would expect it to be publicly available within the next month or so. Sorry for the false alarm, but good eyes!
Tobin Juday | Customer Experience | http://support.updox.com

Joel and Chris,

This is how we do it. First we get a signed consent from the patient to allow their adult child to receive their personal health information. Updox assigns a username with a random number, but then my nurse click into address book, type in last name, and click on the name. Once patient/portal tab comes up, she then clicks on edit user name and changes the assigned number to a more coherent easier to remember username. The password is assigned by Updox, and the verification code is the contact's date of birth.

There are a few potential avenues for a HIPPA violation, as I see it. If we have a husband and wife who happened to give us the same email address they will both be mailed login information. Potentially every portal message thereafter may be a privacy violation. If I have a 15 yo with a parent's email address on their chart, and they eventually age into 18 yo, the parents will still have access and this may be a violation. Just something to be aware of.

Chris,

I have thought about this and to play the devil's advocate what about regular mail--with the husband wife thing--I see no difference there than if you mail a letter to their shared address. There is no way to police who opens the regular mail or Updox message either way.
The 15 year old is a separate issue. Once they turn 18 just change the password or email address so the parent's can't access it.

The problem would be remembering when all my kids in the panel change into adults and actually getting this done.

This begs the question, why is there a different standard for electronic methods?

Email can be intercepted, and is not considered secure, but certified mail IS considered secure, although it can easily be intercepted along the way.

Faxes are consider secure for schedule III drugs, but electronically signed e-scripts are not.

Paper in hand, which can be photo-shopped, DEA number stolen, etc, is considered secure for Schedule II, but fax directly from me is not.

The 4th Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This really burns me up. It is clear the intention for our papers and effects to be private, but the NSA is snooping all of our email and such and somehown the 4th Amendment does not apply for electronic forms.

Chris,

You are too dam* logical

The only reason to go thru the hoops for me is to avoid the dam* fine, hopefully.

With the Updox messaging having the password does help if a wife or husband have the same email but want to keep their info private from one another.

I feel that I need to demonstrate a reasonable effort to protect privacy, but not to make myself nuts over it. We are sending things like "your pap smear is normal" or "your cholesterol is 240, and needs a little work", not nuclear weapons secrets. Really sensitive stuff is handled in person or at worst case a phone call.

David,

I agree with you 100%, but unfortunately, I think, practices in small office settings are being unfairly targeted, so if we even e-mail a normal pap or cholesterol level, we may be subject to a penalty. I want to utilize the technology to capture the efficiency, and with all the hurdles to jump over, I still think the Updox secure messaging is far superior than how I use to handle communications with patients before incorporating this system into my everyday practice.
I am just not willing to email anything and take the chances with an exorbitant fine.

This seems appropriate for this thread. The other day I was showing a patient that I could "drag and drop" a document into Updox to send to his portal. Without missing a beat, he asked if we could take his grandson, who was bouncing off the walls of the office at the time, and "drag and drop" him into the portal. "Don't worry, I think I know how to download him when I get home".

Jimmie, I agree completely, and use UpDox for my messaging. That's what I mean by "reasonable precautions". But if every possible precaution is always taken, noting gets done.

I set up an appointment with my daughter to see her pediatrician today, and felt it important to give some background. I started out a plain old e-mail with "I am fully conversant with all HIPAA regulations regarding security of communications, and waive anything having to do with that. I want you to know...." Probably they have a portal. It would have taken me all morning to get an access code an password, probably longer knowing the inefficiencies of their clinic. Now, I could go nutso that someone might find out she is having bellyaches, but that would just be stupid and counterproductive. I mean, do I really care that the entire world finds out my uric acid is 7.3? OK, here it is. "Attention world: my uric acid is 7.3 mg%"

David,
Got it now.

Unbelievably funny.

@David Agreed 100%