Yes, you can optionally enable the ability for patients to include a file attachment(s) when replying to a Patient Message.
- You can control whether or not patients can make use of this ability in your pre-saved Template Settings (using the 'Allow patient to reply with attachment' setting), or on-the-fly at the time of sending the message (using the 'Allow file attachment' checkbox).
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- When this ability has been enabled, patients can upload and send file attachments directly in the Ocean Health Messenger.
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- Patients can click the blue 'paperclip' icon to open their device's file explorer, select an attachment to upload, type a message in the response box, and click the 'send' icon to send their message to you.
- The message response and file attachment(s) will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in your EMR:
- The patient's typed response and any patient-submitted file attachments will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in PS Suite as new Progress Notes.
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- The patient's typed response and any patient-submitted file attachments will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in Med Access as new Tasks.
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Note: You can choose whether or not the typed response Task is generated in an 'Active' or 'Complete' state by adjusting the 'Create encounter notes as' setting within your Ocean Cloud Connect configuration.
The Task containing the patient-submitted file attachment will always be generated in the 'Active' state.
Prerequisite
- Ensure that the 'Save secure message notes as' setting in your Ocean Cloud Connect configuration has a specified Document folder/Sub-folder for patient-submitted attachments.
- Depending on your Cloud Connect configuration, the patient's typed response will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in Accuro as either a new 'Document' or 'Encounter Note'.
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The patient-submitted file attachment(s) will always be automatically imported into the patient's chart in Accuro as a new 'Document'.
Accuro Unsupported File Types
Ocean supports a variety of file types as noted above, however Accuro only supports "pdf", "jpg", and "jpeg" file types. This means that when a patient uploads a file into Ocean that is not supported by Accuro, it may not be automatically imported into the patient chart in Accuro.
- To accomodate for this, Ocean automatically converts certain file types so that they can be automatically imported into Accuro. This conversion is reflected under the 'Note' column for the relevant document in Accuro.
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Ocean currently performs the following file conversions for Accuro:
- "txt" files are converted to "pdf" files
- "png" files are converted tp "jpg" files
- "bmp" files are converted to "jpg" files
- In the case that a patient uploads a file type into Ocean that is not supported by Accuro and cannot be automatically converted by Ocean (e.g., "mov"), a note is added within the Accuro patient chart to inform you that the patient uploaded a file type that is not supported by Accuro.
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Note: Depending on your configuration of the 'Save secure message notes as' setting within your Ocean Cloud Connect, this note may appear as a Document or an Encounter Note within the Accuro patient chart.
- You can view and retrieve the unimported file attachment by selecting the patient within the 'Patients' of the Ocean Portal, or by opening the Ocean Patient Dashboard. The file will appear alongside the associated secure message note.
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- Simply click on the purple eye icon to preview the file within your web browser (if your browser supports displaying the filetype), or click on the filename to download it to your computer.
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Note: After downloading the file and storing it in an appropriate system of record, ensure that you delete it from your computer to ensure that any personal health information is appropriately cleansed.
- The patient's typed response will be automatically inported into the patient's chart in OSCAR Pro as a new Progress Note and any patient-submitted file attachments will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in OSCAR Pro.
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- The patient-submitted file attachment will be automatically imported into the 'Documents' section of the chart, with an accompanying Progress Note being generated.
- The patient's typed response and any patient-submitted file attachments can be accessed by locating the relevant patient in 'Patients' page of the Ocean Portal.
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- The typed response and any patient-subitted file attachments can also be accessed directly within the Ocean Patient Dashboard.
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Does the 'Allow reply' setting need to be enabled for patients to submit attachments?
No, the 'Allow reply' setting does not need to be enabled for patients to submit attachments.
- For example, if you would like a patient to respond with a file attachment(s) but do not require a written response from them, you can enable only the 'Allow file attachment' setting.
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- When the patient accesses the Health Messenger they will have the option to submit a file attachment, but no option to include a typed response.
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Advanced Notes
- Ocean supports the following file types: "jpg", "jpeg", "png", "tiff", "tif", "bmp", "mp3", "mp4", "txt", "pdf", "avi", and "mov"
- Ocean does not limit the number of individual files that are attached to a patient message.
- A single file attachment cannot exceed 10 MB in size. The total size limit for all attachments per message is 50 MB (i.e., the sum of all attachments on a single message cannot exceed 50 MB).