Where do eConsult and/or eReferral notification emails get sent to?

Note for Ontario Users: In Ontario, Ocean eConsults are currently in a limited release. For more information on eConsult in Ontario as part of the Ontario eServices Program, please review the Overview of eConsults in Ontario article.

Automatic email notifications are triggered for both patients and senders whenever a consult and/or referral  status is changed from "New" to "Booked"/"Cancelled"/"Declined", or a referral's appointment date or time is changed.

Simply "Accepting" an eConsult and/or eReferral does not typically send an email notification (unless you are in the uncommon scenario that the eReferral is submitted under an eRequest specifically configured to do so).

Determining which email address(es) notifications are sent to depends on the conditions under which the consult/referral was sent and the nature of the notification.

  • An example of the notification email provided to senders, receivers, and patients can be seen by expanding the image on the right.

Notification Email Rules

eReferral SenderseReferral ReceiversPatients

Email Notifications for Referrers

Notification emails are sent to the sender/referrer when:

  • An appointment date is booked, changed, or removed 
  • Booking comments are added or changed
  • The consult and/or referral is forwarded
  • The consult and/or referral is declined and returned to the original referrer*

    *Note: If the referral has been previously forwarded to an additional stakeholder who then declines the referral, the original referrer will not receive a notification email regarding the declination.

  • A secure message is sent to the sender/referrer (patients do not receive this message)
Notifications will be sent based on the following conditions:
An Ocean user is associated with the referral
  • Notifications will be sent to the first email address that is set, based on the following order of email addresses in the user's My Account page (found in the Ocean portal, clicking on your name at top right hand corner, and selecting "My Account"):

    • Referral Notification Email
    • Clinical Delegate Email
    • The Delegate's email address (if delegates have been added)
    • The user's Email Address
The referrer provided a specific notification email when sending the referral

The provided email will be used.

The referral was sent from an eReferral Custom Form in an EMR

Notifications will be sent to the referral notification email configured for the specific user within the EMR's custom form, or the site within the EMR's custom form.

Email Notifications for Referral Delegates

If a delegate user sends a referral on behalf of a referring provider, Ocean will use the provider's user settings to determine where the notifications are directed.

Therefore, the delegate user will NOT receive the notifications themselves, unless their email address is set as the "Referral Notification Email" in the provider's My Account page.

The conditions listed above in the "Email Notifications for Referrers" section still apply to determine which of the provider user's email address the notifications are sent to.

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