Home Forums Discussions Meaningful Use Secure Direct email addresses

Hi,
Does any body know if there is a directory list available, national or regional, of secured email addresses of physicians ?

In praticular we work with a number of doctors who are E-clinical users that we would like to send Trasfer of Care messages. But none could tell us what his/her secured dircet email address is or where in E-clinical EMR they can capture this address and pass on to us.

Appreciate your help.


Thanks
Anwar

This article appeared in Medical Economics in April 2015, outlining the condition of Direct Messaging (see "Direct Addresses" paragraph). As expected, it's a microcosm of the whole EMR "non-interoperability" dilemma, with EMR companies refusing to share directories of their customers.

Well, Updox has a directory search ( PT portal => Address) of members having direct email address. That is how we have found secured email addresses of a number of consulting doctors we use for referral.

Of course, we could not find those who are E-clinical uers.

Thanks
Anwar

Your eCW physicians need to activate their Direct address. Then they can just give it to you. They activate this by going to the P2P Administraion menu and going to HISP. I just found this out since I am going through this with another physician.

He actually called eCW support and they said they didn't know anything about DIRECT. They have a system called P2P. But I think P2P supports DIRECT.

In Georgia , the state has contracted a company to set up a direct mail sercure system. We didnt need it since Updox fulfilled the requirement

And why is Georgia paying a company to reinvent the wheel?

Hey, I hook my boy up [who owns this type of company] and send government money his way ....

I have a couple quick questions regarding Direct Email.

We just got a fax request from a local provider for our Doc's Direct Email. If the other provider sends a Direct email, where do these messages appear in AC? Does our Doc have to log into another place to check these messages or do they appear in the AC inbox?

I simply need a quick run-down on how this works to explain to our Doc. Or a link to a guide/tip-sheet I could look over for all the details.

We also have Updox and I think they provide Direct addresses too. Which do you think is easier to use?

I shouldn't answer, but I will. How would it go directly into AC? And, why would you have to into another place? Why not just open the chart and drag the email into II? If you have an email app.

I'm no expert on this, just trying to figure it out too. I don't think you can go through your regular email app. I'm guessing, but haven't tested it yet, that this could be done in the portal section (via Updox) of AC. The patient communications in the portal are, I think, a form of "Direct Secure Messaging" AKA "Direct Secure Email". See the Updox blurb here:

http://updox.com/updox-platform/direct/

From the noise on that window, maybe you have to sign up for it separately? Still trying to figure out which hoops to jump through myself.

I am still trying to figure out this Direct Message email. I went through the process of getting "vetted" by the Direct Trust. I know that incoming Direct Message comes to the Updox Patient Portal. Only a small number of physicians will show up the in Direct Trust directory.
To do this click the Address Book tab on the Updox Patient Portal. On the bottom of the window click on Find In Directory button. You can type in a last name or other demographic information.
My question is how to send a Direct Message email to physicians who are not listed in the directory? I was guessing that you can create a New Contact and add their Direct email address. Does anyone know if this is the correct way to send a secure email? (I started the process by calling a local cardiology group and finally talked to someone who knew what a Direct Email is and obtained their address.)

These custom patient portals won't last long if every EHR has a different one. Unless government steps into standardize/host centralized port, encrypted email will be the next standard. So far the best implementation I have seen is Office 365 Encryption. No special software and easy to use. HIPAA compliant.

Thank you for responding. I am surprised that no one else has responded to my post. According to the requirements for Meaningful Use 2, medical information is supposed to be sent to subspecialists through direct email for 10% of referrals. I was hoping that some of the physicians who have been doing this could provide guidance.

In Findlay, Ohio we have no other consultants that have these direct emails, so we cannot perform up to the MU 2 guidelines...

Ted,
Perhaps one reason that you have had little response is that only a small percentage of all eligible docs have participated in MU. I suspect the percentage of AC users may be even smaller. I use Updox and have access to direct mail, but I have yet to figure out any benefit to me or my patients, so I have not taken the time to figure out how to use it.

Well, It seems I am the one who started this thread. And I will a response for Ted's original question.

We have created a Rolodex ( view => Practice Rolodex) with direct email addresses.

These are the basic steps:
1. First create a referral for a Doctor in the demography section. This will increment the denominator for core 15 that you you can observe if you run the report before and after.
2. Next send the summary of care by
a. going to the PT summary sheet tab
b. And then clicking on TRansfer of care, filling in the HIPPA form
c. Then linking the referral
d. And then clicking on sending direct
1. Filling in the direct address in the To ( you can copy and paste from the Rolodex as well for the 1st time
2. And then sending direct.


Amazing chart has a videro and PDF tutorial on this

Hope this is helpful. Good luck.

Thanks
Ramiz

Thank you for the responses. I have found few subspecialists in my community that have a direct email address or even know what it is. After the first two years of Meaningless Use we gave up on participating because it wasn't worth the time. Since we did not participate in 2015 my practice received a notice that there would be a 2% reduction in Medicare Payments. So, we decided to give it another try. Many of the requirements will be very difficult to meet. No surprise to anyone that charting for Meaningless Use takes a lot more time. Supposedly Meaningless Use will be replaced. I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen. Have you ever know government bureaucrats to give up a program?

If you did not attest for 2015, please consider doing this.

couldn't tell if the form had to be signed then emailed or OK to sign and fax, I choose the latter

Today I called two of the large Orthopedic groups in my community and after getting passed from one person to the next 3 or 4 times no one that I talked to knows what Direct Email is. Are the subspecialists not subject to Meaningless Use like the rest of us primary care providers?

I can validate your experiences here. Most of the specialists are not fully aware of what the direct email address is or the MU requirement for referral.

However these office manager may know these and may already activated direct email addresses for these docs.

You can go to PT portal=> Address and do then do a directory of the doctors you are interested by inputting just their names. This is how we found the direct email address of many of the docs we were interested in. One caveat, if this specialist is e-ClinilWorks (EcW) EHR user then their direct address is visible to only other EcW users. It is not available to the outside world.

Alternatively, you can also ask their office managers

Thanks
a_ramiz

HI anyone: I have not opened the portal and direct messaging yet. My question is what has been your experience with the messaging from patients. I am a solo one front desk outfit and I am not sure if I want correspondence in this form. Can the portal just be used and not the direct messaging or is it one package deal. Thanks Gwendolyn Maine 0 degrees today 50 deg tomorrow.

We are also a solo one front desk outfit and do use the portal . We actually have 44.43 % of our patient's enrolled in the portal using it as of yesterday. I personally like that the patient's can use the portal for communication, minor communication. We have a strict policy that is included with the portal sign up sheet. No Urgent needs and the portal is not priority for our office.
Now, we do not have the full UPDOX package so, we do not use direct messaging for referrals and such. Will take a hit for that. My doctor doesnt want to do the Direct Trust Activation. Does not like all the information that they ask for.

Hi Ally: I am assuming you can not TURN OFF the direct messaging once the portal is activated? My worst fear is the direct message : I am having chest pain... And I see it the next day. Are you using it for patients to change appt or request refills? Thanks Gwendolyn Maine

We have a Portal Policy that the patient reads and, we also verbally advise what messages CAN NOT be sent through on the portal. It means a lot of time and paper but, the portal has been really helpful to both our patients and the staff.
I do not know about TURNING OFF the direct messaging. We never thought about doing that.

Portal configuration also has the option for a patient to be able to initiate a message to the practice. If you turn that off, then you may not need to worry about getting a flurry of email queries.


There is also an option for a patient to be able to respond to emails sent from the practice.



For our practice, we allow PT to respond to emails. Even then only a few uses portal email to communicate.

Thanks
aramiz