If your Shared Encryption Key has been lost, unfortunately, OceanMD has no way to find or retrieve your unique key on your behalf (this is one of the ways we help to ensure patient data is always secure). However, there are some troubleshooting options you can take to try to recover it on your own:
1. Try the Ocean Portal.
- Log in to the Ocean Portal, open the 'Menu' in the top left corner and select 'Admin'.
- In the Admin Settings page, select 'Encryption'.
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Click the eye icon to view your Shared Encryption Key.
If your Shared Encryption Key does not appear, the "hint" may help you track down where you should be looking and/or what you chose your key to be.
2. Try Ocean Cloud Connect.
- Go to Ocean Cloud Connect and sign in using your Ocean user account credentials.
- Click 'View Shared Encryption Key'.
- You will be prompted to confirm the action. Click 'View Shared Encryption Key'
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Your Shared Encryption Key will be displayed.
Note: As a security precaution, viewing your Shared Encryption Key in Ocean Cloud Connect will automatically send an email notification to your Ocean Site's Clinical Administrator / Ocean Support Contact email address(es).
3. Try your EMR.
If you use PS Suite, OSCAR, or OSCAR Pro, and your EMR is integrated with your Ocean Site, you may be able to access your Shared Encryption Key from within your EMR.
- In PS Suite, open the Ocean Custom Form and select 'Settings'. Enter your Ocean user account credentials, and then select 'Shared Encryption Key' to view it.
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- In OSCAR or OSCAR Pro, open the Ocean eForm (e.g., via the Ocean shortcut in the EMR schedule or in the "Manage eForms" section in the Administration panel), select 'Settings'.
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- Next, select 'Advanced Settings', and then select 'Reset Shared Encryption Key'. Your existing Shared Encryption Key will be displayed. Once you copy the key from the box, click the 'Cancel' button.
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4. Try a colleague's web browser.
An Ocean user who can view patient data in their web browser can do so because they have the Shared Encryption Key saved in their web browser's local storage. If you set up Ocean using your web browser, it might be available by logging in to the Ocean Portal using this same web browser. If another colleague set Ocean up, you can ask them to log into the Ocean Portal and check.
- In either case, consult the steps outlined in Option 1 above to check the 'Encryption' page in the Admin Settings for your Ocean Site.
5. Try an Ocean Tablet.
- If you have an Ocean Tablet, you can view the Shared Encryption Key in Administration Menu (which an Ocean user with admin privileges can access by tapping on the Ocean logo or "cog" icon in the bottom left). From this Admin menu, choose "View Shared Encryption Key" to view your site's Shared Encryption Key.
If you've tried all of the above and still can't find your Shared Encryption Key...
If your Shared Encryption Key (SEK) is truly lost, you will need to create a new one and update all your devices. Please note that once an SEK is reset, any previous patient responses or referrals will be unrecoverable by your staff or the Ocean team.
If you have exhausted all other options and are ready to reset your SEK (and lose any outstanding patient records in Ocean), please ask an administrator on your Ocean Site to contact the OceanMD Support team.
Please note that Ocean will only accept SEK reset requests from a clinic staff member with Ocean administrator privileges.
Protecting Your Shared Encryption Key in the Future
Your Shared Encryption Key is an important safeguard against unauthorized access to your patient's data, and should therefore be handled with great care and stored in a safe place. It’s also recommended that access to the key be limited to trusted administrative account holders. In order to prevent against the worst case scenario of a lost key (and lost patient data), we recommend taking the following steps:
- Administrative access in Ocean is required to change the Shared Encryption Key. As a result, you should limit admin privileges to a small number of trusted users. However, always ensure that you have redundancy, in case an admin user leaves the organization.
- Ocean allows you to save a "hint". Make an effort to ensure that the hint will always allow an admin user to recover the key. This might include noting a secondary storage location.
- You can download, print, and complete this Clinic Reference Card and keep it in a safe location for future reference.
- Consider a safe online password storage tool designed for shared team use such as Common Key or 1Password.