How does my User Role impact my functionalities as a Clinical Delegate sending eReferrals in Ocean?

A Clinical Delegate has the ability to send eReferrals on behalf of another Ocean user. Depending on the User Role selected in your Account Settings, your experience when sending an Ocean eReferral as a Clinical Delegate will be different. As the scope of practice for each user on your Ocean site varies, the sending experience and wording of an eReferral changes to reflect the relevant scope.

  • When sending a new eReferral as a Clinical Delegate, the dropdown menu in the 'Referrer's Information' panel allows you to select the referring provider, if applicable. The menu displays all providers for which the sending user is designated as a Clinical Delegate.
  • After the eReferral has been sent, email notifications are sent to the 'Referral Notification Email' email address listed in referring provider's account settings. If there is no email listed, email notifications will be sent to the 'Clinical Delegate Email(s)' listed in the referring provider's account settings.
  • Note: Email notifications will not be sent to the Clinical Delegate user who initiated the eReferral on behalf of the referring provider. The notifications will only be sent to the referring provider selected in the 'Referrer's Information' dropdown menu.

Special Considerations

Due to the possible variation in the scope of practice of users on your Ocean site, additional features have been implemented to meet this consideration.

Physician Assistants and Residents

  • When sending an eReferral on behalf of a physician as a Physician Assistant or Resident, the Referrer's Information panel is modified to clearly indicate that the eReferral is being sent by a Physician Assistant or Resident, on behalf of the referring provider.
  • This is recorded in the General pane of the eReferral, so the recipient can clearly see that it was sent on behalf of the referring physician.
  • After the eReferral has been sent, email notifications are sent to the 'Referral Notification Email' email address listed in referring provider's (i.e., the physician's) account settings. If there is no email listed, email notifications will be sent to the 'Clinical Delegate Email(s)' listed in the referring provider's account settings.

Nurse Practitioners

  • In the case that a Nurse Practitioner initiates an eReferral for a medical test/procedure which requires authorization from a physician, an 'Authorizing Physician' field is added to the Referrer's Information panel to select the authorizing MD.
  • Typing into the field searches the Ocean Healthmap directory for convenient selection of the authorizing physician.
  • Once the Authorizing Physician is selected and the eReferral is sent, it is recorded in the General pane of the eReferral, so the recipient can clearly see the physician who provided authorization.
  • After the eReferral has been sent, email notifications are sent to the 'Referral Notification Email' email address listed in Nurse Practitioner's account settings. If there is no email listed, email notifications will be sent to the 'Clinical Delegate Email(s)'.

Directory Listings Enforcing Referrer Restrictions

  • Directory Listings may be configured to enforce that the referring provider have a User Role of 'Family Physician', 'Specialist', or 'Nurse Practitioner'.
  • If the user sending the eReferral is not configured with one of these User Roles, they will be unable to send the eReferral and an orange warning message will appear.
  • However, if the user sending the eReferral is configured as a Clinical Delegate for a 'Family Physician', 'Specialist', or 'Nurse Practitioner' user, the Clinic Delegate will be permitted to send the referral on their behalf.
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