Learn how to accept, decline, and import eReferrals into your EMR.
1. Receive an email notification and access the eReferral
- When you receive a new eReferral, you will receive an email notification based on your notification configuration.
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- Log in to the Ocean Portal, and use the menu to navigate to the 'eReferrals & eConsults' area.
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Locate the eReferral under the 'Received' tab and within the 'New' status folder. Click on the referral to open it and view more details.
Tip: Certain columns can be used to sort your referrals into ascending/descending order. Simply click the column header.
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2. Review and accept or decline the eReferral
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After opening the eReferral, review it's contents to gain a more detailed understanding of the referral and ensure it contains all of the information you require.
Tip: If necessary, you can assign the referral to be reviewed by another user on your Ocean site for a secondary review.
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- Use the 'Decline' or 'Accept' button at the bottom of the referral to indicate your decision.
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PS Suite with Cloud Connect Integration
- When you accept a new referral and your PS Suite EMR is integrated using Cloud Connect, Ocean will search for an existing patient in your EMR with the matching healthcard number and date of birth, and automatically import the referral note into the corresponding chart as a new encounter note.
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- If no corresponding chart is found, a new chart will be generated and populated with the referral information.
- If Ocean automatically generated a new patient chart and the name of the referring provider already exists in your PS Suite address book, the 'Referring MD/NP' chart field will also be updated with the referrer's name.
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Note: Ocean matches the referring provider's information with the PS Suite address book using First Name and Last Name.
If more than one provider exists in the PS Suite address book with the same first and last name, Ocean uses the referrer's fax number to match with the correct provider.
If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, and fax number, Ocean will not update 'Referring MD/NP' field.
If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, but no matching fax number is found, Ocean will not update 'Referring MD/NP' field.
In Ocean, the referral will be automatically moved to the 'Pending Booking' status folder.
PS Suite without Cloud Connect Integration
- If your PS Suite EMR is not integrated using Cloud Connect, you will be provided with an numeric code to import the referral into your EMR using the following steps:
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- Manually navigate into the patient's chart in PS Suite. If the patient does not yet exist in the EMR, create a new stub chart.
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- You can then use the 'Import' button on the Ocean Toolbar to import the patient's eReferral using the provided numeric code. The patient's demographic fields will automatically update the chart when the referral is imported, and a new encounter note containing the referral summary will be generated.
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In Ocean, the referral will be automatically moved to the 'Pending Booking' status folder.
- When you accept a new eReferral, the referral information will be automatically imported as a new Active Task in the patient's chart with the matching healthcard number and date of birth in your Med Access EMR.
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- In Ocean, the referral will be automatically moved to the 'Pending Booking' status folder.
- If no chart with a matching healthcard number and date of birth is found, Ocean will automatically generate a new chart and import the referral notes into it. The patient's demographic fields will also automatically update in the patient's chart.
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Note: The 'Patient Status' field in new charts generated by Ocean will be set by default to 'Unconfirmed'. Ensure that you update the status to 'Active' (or your preferred status) after accepting the referral.
- If Ocean automatically generated a new patient chart and the name of the referring provider already exists in your Med Access address book, the 'Referring Provider' chart field will also be updated with the referrer's name.
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Note: Ocean matches the referring provider's information with the Med Access address book using First Name and Last Name.
If more than one provider exists in the Med Access address book with the same first and last name, Ocean uses the referrer's fax number to match with the correct provider.
If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, and fax number, Ocean will not update 'Referring Provider' field.
If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, but no matching fax number is found, Ocean will not update 'Referring Provider' field.
Ocean-MA Extension: Task Category and Type Adjustments
- If you use the Ocean-MA Extension, it will automatically recognize upon opening the Task that it is related to an Ocean eReferral.
- The extension will automatically adjust the Task 'Category' and 'Type' values to correspond with the Ocean eReferral.
After reviewing the changes and making any other necessary adjustments to the Task, click 'Save'. The Task will be automatically categorized into the 'Active Requests' section of the corresponding 'Consults ' or 'Investigations' area of the patient chart.
- When you accept a new eReferral, the referral note will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in Accuro with the matching healthcard number and date of birth.
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- Depending on your Cloud Connect configuration, the referral note will either appear as an Encounter Note or a Document.
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Note: It is recommended that your Cloud Connect settings are configured to save sent and received referrals as Documents to ensure that any referral file attachments are automatically imported into Accuro.
By default, the Document Provider will be 'Unassigned'. However, automatic Document Provider assignment can optionally be enabled in your Cloud Connect settings.
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If no chart with a matching healthcard number and date of birth is found, Ocean will automatically generate a new chart and import the referral notes into it. The patient's demographic fields will also automatically update in the patient's chart.
- If Ocean automatically generated a new patient chart and the name of the referring provider already exists in your Accuro address book, the 'Referring Phys' chart field will also be updated with the referrer's name.
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Note: Ocean matches the referring provider's information with the Accuro address book using First Name and Last Name.
If more than one provider exists in the Accuro address book with the same first and last name, Ocean uses the referrer's fax number to match with the correct provider.
If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, and fax number, Ocean will not update 'Referring Phys' field.
If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, but no matching fax number is found, Ocean will not update 'Referring Phys' field.
In Ocean, the referral will be automatically moved to the 'Pending Booking' status folder.
- If you are using OSCAR, you will be provided with a numeric code to import the referral into your EMR using the following steps:
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- Manually navigate into the patient's chart in your OSCAR EMR. If the patient chart does not yet exist, create a new stub chart.
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- Press the 'Import' button on the Ocean Toolbar in the patient's chart, and enter the numeric code provided earlier.
- Confirm that the patient you are importing from the eReferral matches the patient information of the chart you are importing the referral into.
- The referral information will then be imported into the EMR chart as a new encounter note. The patient demographic fields in the EMR will also automatically update when the eReferral is imported.
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In Ocean, the referral will be automatically moved to the 'Pending Booking' status folder.
When you accept a new eReferral, the referral note will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in OSCAR Pro with the matching healthcard number and date of birth.
In Ocean, the referral will be automatically moved to the 'Pending Booking' status folder.
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The referral note is imported in PDF format into the 'Documents' area of the chart, and the Ocean Toolbar is reflected to show the number of active eReferrals.
Note: It may take up to 1 hour for the number of active eReferrals to update.
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If no chart with a matching healthcard number and date of birth is found, Ocean will automatically generate a new chart and import the referral notes into it. The patient's demographic fields will also automatically update in the patient's chart.
- If Ocean automatically generated a new patient chart and the 'Billing #' set within the referring provider's Ocean user account is associated with a contact in your OSCAR Pro Specialist library, the 'Referral Doctor #' and 'Referral Doctor' chart fields will be automatically updated with the referrer's Billing # and full name (as set within their Ocean user account).
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Note: If the 'Billing #' set within the referring provider's Ocean user account is not associated with a contact in your OSCAR Pro Specialist library, Ocean will not update the 'Referral Doctor #' and 'Referral Doctor' fields.
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If you use a non-integrated EMR, you can download the referral after accepting it and manually upload it into your EMR as a PDF.
Tip: You can download a copy of the referral record at any time.
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In Ocean, the referral will be automatically moved to the 'Pending Booking' status folder.
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If declining an eReferral, you will be prompted to enter a reason for the declination, with the option to provide an additional message for the declination email notifications.
A message will also appear to inform you of the stakeholder that the referral will be returned to.
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- If the patient consented to email notifications, you can additionally choose whether or not the patient should also receive the declination email notification.
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- The referral will be automatically moved to the 'Declined' status folder.