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Administration FAQ

Common questions related to administrative features and general management of Ocean.

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How to Enable or Disable Weekly Ocean Usage Reports

Enable Weekly Ocean Usage Reports

To start receiving weekly Ocean usage reports for each Ocean Site that you have Site Admin access to:

  • Log in to the Ocean Portal.
  • Click your name in the top right corner and select 'My Account'.
  • Locate the 'Subscriptions' setting area, and enable the 'Weekly usage report' checkbox.
  • Click 'Save Changes' in the bottom right corner.

You will now begin receiving a weekly usage report for each Ocean Site that you have Site Admin access to.

These reports are sent every Sunday and capture the previous week's activity (i.e., Sunday through Saturday).

Disable Weekly Ocean Usage Reports

  • To stop receiving these reports, you can click the 'Unsubscribe from this usage report' link at the bottom of any report email.
  • Alternatively, simply disable the 'Weekly usage report' checkbox in your Ocean user account settings as describe above.

Making the Most of Your Reports

To learn what each section in the report means, refer to Understanding Your Weekly Ocean Usage Report.

You can review your weekly reports regularly to:

  • Identify power users who can serve as internal champions
  • Discover underutilized features that may require additional training
  • Track the success of new Ocean feature implementations
  • Monitor seasonal or periodic trends in usage
  • Compare usage patterns before and after workflow changes
  • Measure user adoption across different Ocean features
  • Track patient engagement through various channels
  • Identify the most frequently used forms
  • Assess referral workflow efficiency
  • Support data-driven decisions about Ocean implementation

For even more detailed analytics, Ocean Site Admins can also access real-time usage data through the Ocean Portal's detailed reporting options.

Understanding Your Weekly Ocean Usage Report

The Weekly Ocean Usage Report provides a comprehensive overview of an Ocean Site's activity and user engagement. This report is automatically generated and emailed to subscribed Ocean Site Admins, offering valuable insights into how your team is utilizing Ocean's various features.

What's Included in the Report?

The weekly report is divided into several key sections:

Current Ocean Users

  • This section includes details about the users in your Ocean Site, including:
  • • Total number of users with access to your Ocean Site
  • • Total number of users with Site Admin access to your Ocean Site
  • • List of Ocean user accounts with Site Admin access to your Ocean Site
  • • Total number of EMR-authenticated users if applicable (i.e., someone who accesses Ocean through the EMR but does not have an Ocean user account linked to the EMR user account at the time the action occurred)
  • • Quick link to 'Invite more users' that takes you directly to the Admin -> Users page in the Ocean Portal for convenient user management

Current Product Usage

  • The section outlines your Ocean Site's current product usage, including:
  • • Number of registered tablets
  • • Indication if your Ocean Site has Unlimited Patient Messaging capabilities
  • • Number of users activated to send Patient Messages
  • • Number of Directory Listings accepting eReferrals
  • • Number of Active Website Form Links with the 'Website Form Type' set to 'Website Form'
  • • Number of Active Online Booking Schedules

Patient Engagement Activity

  • Total Forms Completed: Breakdown of the number of forms completed through Patient Messages, Website Forms, and Tablets
  • Forms Completed: Lists specific forms used and their completion counts
  • Secure Messages Sent: Number of secure messages sent by provider
  • Form Invitations Sent: Number of form invitations sent by provider
  • Reminders Sent: Number of automated Patient Reminders by messaging template
  • Website Form Submissions: Number of website form submissions by the name of the Website Form Link
  • Online Bookings: Number of online bookings made by name of the Ocean Booking Schedule
  • Tablet Usage Metrics
  • • Number of patients that used the tablet.
  • • The average duration (in seconds) of a patient tablet session.
  • • The average number of forms patients complete on the tablet.
  • • The average number of patient demographic updates made from the tablet.
  • Tablet Use by Uploading User: The number of patient tablet sessions by the name of the Ocean user or EMR user that uploaded the patient to Ocean, if available.
  • Study Data Collected: The number of study submissions collected by the name of the Ocean Study.

Referral Activity

  • • Referrals Sent: Number of referrals sent by Ocean user.
  • • Referrals Received by Listing: Number of referrals received by Directory Listing.
  • • Referrals Received By Modality: The number of referrals received by modality (e.g., eReferral, Phone, Fax, other).

Ocean Server Upgrade Schedule

This article lists the scheduled Ocean server upgrades until the end of 2025. On each of these dates, Ocean will be intermittently unavailable between 10:00 - 11:00 PM EST while the upgrade is being deployed.

The release notes for each upgrade will be published in the Ocean Server Release Notes section at 1:00 PM EST on each date.

You can stay up to date with our improvements, feature upgrades, and system notifications by following our 'Announcements' sections.

Ocean Server Upgrade Schedule

  • January 9, 2025
  • January 30, 2025
  • February 20, 2025
  • March 13, 2025
  • April 3, 2025
  • April 24, 2025
  • May 15, 2025
  • June 5, 2025
  • June 26, 2025
  • July 17, 2025
  • August 7, 2025
  • August 28, 2025
  • September 18, 2025
  • October 9, 2025
  • October 30, 2025
  • November 20, 2025
  • December 11, 2025

How can I view the Ocean End-User License Agreement (EULA)?

You can view the Ocean End-User License Agreement (EULA) at any time by following the steps below:

  • Log in to the Ocean Portal using your Ocean user account credentials.
  • Click your name in the top right corner, and select 'My Account'.
  • In the top left corner, click 'View User License Agreement'.
  • The Ocean EULA will appear.

Adding Ocean Licences

To Add an Ocean Licence:

  • Login to the Ocean Portal. Click the 'Menu' button in the top left corner and select 'Admin'.
  • Click 'Licence Management'.
  • Click the 'Add Licence' button in the top right corner.
  • Select the Ocean Licence that you would like to add by clicking the 'Add & Assign' button.

  • If you selected 'Patient Engagement Licence (Plus)', you will first be prompted to assign an EMR Schedule to activate for Online Booking. After selecting the desired EMR Schedule, click 'Next'.

    Note: If you selected 'Patient Engagement Licence (Basic)', this step will be automatically skipped.

  • Assign an EMR Schedule to activate for Patient Reminders. After selecting the desired EMR schedule, click 'Next'.

    If you assigned an EMR Schedule to activate for Online Booking in the previous step, it will be pre-selected in this step for your convenience.

  • Assign a provider to activate for Patient Messages. After selecting the desired provider, click 'Finish'.

    Alternatively, click 'Finish & Assign Provider Later' to finish adding your Ocean Licence without assigning a provider to activate for Patient Messages. For more information on unassigned providers, please refer to the Licence Management article.

  • Once your Ocean Licence has been assigned to activate the desired EMR Schedule and provider, the schedule and provider will appear within the respective activation tables.

Reminder for Accuro Users

Ensure that the Accuro Provider Permissions for the 'OceanAPI' EMR User have been configured for all providers using Ocean.

Patient Messages for Clinic Support Staff

Once a provider has been activated and assigned to send Patient Messages, up to 3 Clinic Support Staff (per Ocean Licence) can also send messages at no additional cost.

Note: Clinic Support Staff includes all users with any of the following User Roles: MOA/Secretary, Administrator, Nurse, Resident, Medical Student, or Physician Assistant.

Recommended Browsers for an Optimal Ocean Experience

Ocean works best with a modern, up-to-date web browser. For an optimal experience we recommend using:

  • Mozilla Firefox: The latest standard or extended service release.
  • Google Chrome: The latest stable or extended stable release.
  • Microsoft Edge: The latest stable or extended stable release.
  • Apple Safari: Any version running on a supported edition of MacOS, iOS, or iPadOS.

Although Ocean is designed to be compatible with a wide range of web browsers and versions, your experience may not be as smooth as it could be using an older browser. You might encounter some limitations, and certain features may not perform optimally.

Using the latest browsers not only enhances your experience but also helps us deliver new and exciting features seamlessly. Modern browsers are equipped with advanced technologies that can significantly improve the speed, security, and functionality of your Ocean experience.

Single Sign-on (SSO) Feature Improvements

Our most recent Ocean feature release included an update that allows an Ocean user to seamlessly switch between Ocean Sites on different EMRs, while retaining single sign-on (SSO) with each of their EMR user accounts. This update ensures that Ocean "remembers" the unique Ocean User-to-EMR User Account relationship for SSO and eliminates the need for an individual to maintain multiple Ocean accounts.

Shared Ocean User Account Issues

While every Ocean User is required to have a unique user account and login, it has come to our attention that some Ocean Users have been "sharing" a single Ocean username and password. As a result, some of these users are now unable to launch into Ocean from the EMR to manage patient activity in the portal, send or manage eReferrals, or send messages to patients.

Clinics that are in this situation should follow the steps below to resolve this issue:

  1. Invite all team members to create a free Ocean user account connected to your Ocean Site:

    • This can be done by an existing Ocean Site Admin by navigating to: Menu > Admin > Users > Invite Users to Site. Detailed instructions can be found here.
    • This will allow these users to launch Ocean from the EMR to see patient activity, create, view and update referrals, and manage website forms. If the user is granted Site Admin access, they will also be able to view and configure admin settings in Ocean.

  2. If more than one person is sending Patient Messages using a single Ocean User Account:

    We are very pleased to share that we will be releasing a new feature that will allow an unlimited number of MOA team members to send messages with their own Ocean user account at no additional cost, as long as their Ocean Site has one or more Provider Message licences enabled. This feature is expected to be available as of Friday, February 9 2024.

    If your clinic has been sharing a single licence for patient messages, you should:

    • Enable all healthcare providers with their own licence(s).
    • Enable a Primary Delegate for your licensed user (note - this is limited 1 additional user).
    • If multiple support staff (e.g., nurses, MOAs, etc) are sending messages on behalf of a single healthcare provider, you can continue to send messages directly from the Ocean Portal (details below) using the existing shared login until February 9. At that time, all users should switch to a unique user account. Please note this is considered a temporary allowable work-around in order to support users through this transition with minimal disruption.

  3. If you require support through this process:

    Please complete the form at ocean.tips/account-review and an Ocean Practice Consultant will follow up to schedule a meeting time at your convenience.

Sending Messages from the Ocean Portal

If you are logging into the Ocean Portal to send Ocean Messages, please follow the steps below:

  • From the Patients page, use the 'Find Patients' option on the left to locate the patient you would like to send a message to.
  • Type the patient's surname in the input box, and select the 'with surname' option.

  • If the patient is not already found in Ocean using the surname search, you can manually upload them using their PHN.

    Start by locating the patient's healthcard number in your EMR. Copy this number and paste it in the 'Upload from EMR' field, and then click the blue upload icon.

  • Once you've found your patient in Ocean, click on their name. A window will appear where you can click 'Email Patient'. This will open the secure messaging feature of Ocean.
  • Compose your email or select from your templates list and click 'Send' to send your secure message to your patient.

What languages does Ocean support?

The table below indicates the languages that are currently supported across the Ocean platform. As additional language support becomes available, this article will be updated to ensure accuracy.

Product and language combinations denoted with a 'Y' indicate that the language is supported, while an 'N' indicates that the language is not currently supported.

Ocean eForms are denoted with a 'Y*', since clinics must translate the eForm into another language themselves.

Language ISO 639-1 Code eForms Tablets (v194+) Health Messenger Text Message Reminders Website Forms Authenticated Website Forms Online Booking
English en Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
French fr Y* Y Y Y Y Y Y
Arabic ar Y* Y Y N N N N
Armenian hy Y* Y Y N N N N
Chinese zh Y* Y Y N N N N
Farsi (Persian) fa Y* Y N N N N N
Filipino (Tagalog) tl Y* Y N N N N N
Hindi hi Y* Y N N N N N
Italian it Y* Y Y N N N N
Japanese ja Y* Y N N N N N
Korean ko Y* Y N N N N N
Portugese pt Y* Y N N N N N
Punjabi pa Y* Y N N N N N
Romanian ro Y* Y Y N Y N N
Russian ru Y* Y Y N Y N N
Spanish es Y* Y Y N N N N
Tamil ta Y* Y N N N N N
Turkish tr Y* Y N N N N N
Ukrainian uk Y* Y Y N Y N N
Urdu ur Y* Y N N N N N
Vietnamese vi Y* Y N N N N N

Related Articles

How do I cancel my Ocean services?

If you choose to cancel your Ocean services at any time, please refer to the following guide:

Cancelling a Tablet or Kiosk licence?

You can cancel a tablet or kiosk licence by deregistering the tablet through the Ocean Portal. Tablet licence fees automatically stop accruing once the tablet is deregistered. For more information on how to deregister your tablet, refer to: Deactivating Tablets

Cancelling a Patient Engagement Licence (Basic)?

A 'Patient Engagement Licence (Basic)' can be cancelled within the Licence Management area by removing a provider from the 'Patient Messages' table and removing an EMR Schedule from the 'Patient Reminders' table.

Ocean Unlimited licences can be cancelled by creating a ticket with your Ocean Site name, site number, and reason for cancellation here: ocean.tips/support

Cancelling a Patient Engagement Licence (Plus)?

A 'Patient Engagement Licence (Plus)' can be cancelled within the Licence Management area by removing a provider from the 'Patient Messages' table, removing an EMR Schedule from the 'Patient Reminders' table, and removing an EMR Schedule from the 'Online Booking' table.

Alternatively, to downgrade to a 'Patient Engagment Licence (Basic)', simply remove an EMR Schedule from the 'Online Booking' table.

Cancelling an Ocean Website Form Link?

Website Forms can be deleted through the Ocean Portal, Admin > Website Form Links. Website Form Links stop accruing fees once the Website Form Link is deleted. For more information on how to delete a Website Form, refer to: How do I delete a Website Form?

Cancelling an Ocean Studies licence?

Basic Ocean Studies can be deleted through the Ocean Portal in the Studies view. For more information on how to delete a basic Ocean study, refer to: Deleting Studies Upon Completion

Sitewide Ocean Studies licences can be cancelled by creating a ticket with your site name, site number, and reason for cancellation here: ocean.tips/support

Where do I find my Ocean site number?

You can easily find your Ocean site number in the Admin view of your Ocean Portal.

  • Simply log in to the Ocean Portal, click "Menu" in the top left corner and select "Admin". Click "Site Account" on the Admin Settings page.
  • From there, your site number will be the number in the second field, right under your site name.

How do I change the email address that receives Ocean alerts?

Ocean sends alerts via email to notify users of various activity, including: invoices, system message and/or clinical notifications, and new eRequest/eReferral notifications.

You can learn more about how to define the email address that receives each of these notification types below.

Invoices System/Clinical Notifications eRequest/eReferral Notifications
Site-wide setting (requires administrative privileges)
  • By default, monthly Ocean invoices are automatically sent to the user who is set as the payer on your Ocean site (in the Billing section of the Admin Settings page).
  • If you would like another person to be cc'ed on invoices for your Ocean site, you will want to go to the Admin Settings page and edit the "Finance Administrator Email" field.

Where can I get reports on Ocean usage?

Each Ocean Site has access to various reports that provide insights on Ocean usage. You can access the following reports by signing into the Ocean Portal, navigating to the Admin area, clicking on Reports and choose one the following options.

Note: Ocean only maintains 60 days worth of retrospective data. Should you require access to data beyond the 60-day period, OceanMD will need to make a request to have the data formally restored. There is a starting cost of $250 for this service. In order to ensure that you are able to access Ocean data, we suggest doing a monthly export of all data that you require.

Export Referral Analytic Data

This report provides you with insights regarding referral data over time. For more information on accessing eReferral Analytics, refer to: Accessing eReferral Analytics

Note: Referral analytic data specifically is maintained indefinitely in Ocean (i.e., beyond the 60-day period referenced above).

Export User Activities

This report provides you with insights regarding user actions in the Ocean Portal. Actions include tablet registrations, referral creations, viewing patients, and deleting patients. For more information, refer to the Guide for Reviewing Your Site's Audit Logs and Documentation for Ocean Audit Log Entries.

Export Audit Data

There are multiple activities that audit data can be exported for:

  • HCV Audit Log: This report includes error information for sites that have HCV enabled. This is helpful for troubleshooting purposes.

Export Patient Group Messaging Logs

This report provides insights for sites that are using the Patient Group Messaging functionality. Data dictionaries are available within the Patient Group Messages with Ocean article.

Weekly Ocean Usage Report

The Weekly Ocean Usage Report provides a comprehensive overview of an Ocean Site's activity and user engagement. This report is automatically generated and emailed to subscribed Ocean Site Admins, offering valuable insights into how your team is utilizing Ocean's various features.

For more information, refer to How to Enable or Disable Weekly Ocean Usage Reports and Understanding Your Weekly Ocean Usage Report

I see a lot of patients and am running out of Ocean-generated reference numbers. How do I increase the number of digits for patient refs?

Whenever a patient record is loaded into Ocean, it is given its own Ocean reference number ("ref"). Although Ocean is constantly deleting patient data when no longer needed (i.e. after the results have been downloaded to the EMR), you may find yourself running out of "space" in Ocean since the default 3-digit number only allows 900 patients to be loaded at any one time.

Furthermore, Ocean attempts to generate a random number for each loaded patient, so as you approach 900 records, you may find that Ocean takes a bit longer to respond and occasionally gives up and returns an error. Consider this an early warning that you are running out of space.

Fortunately, you can easily change your Ocean site to use 4, 5, 6 or even 7 digit reference numbers by following the steps outlined below.

  • Log in to the Ocean Portal. Click the "Menu" button in the top left corner and click "Admin".
  • Click "Site Features" from the Admin Settings page.
  • Change the "Digits for Generated Patient Refs" setting to 4, 5, 6 or 7 digits.
  • Now, next time you try to enter a ref on a tablet, it will reset the tablet to force entry of four digits.

Note: When changing your number of patient ref digits, keep in mind that the more digits you use, the more numbers your staff will need to enter into the Ocean Tablets for every patient who needs to complete an eForm.

Handling Patients with Old Refs

Once you change the number of ref digits, you may find that some patients still have old refs in their charts. To load those refs on the tablet, simply put zero(s) at the front. For example, if a patient has ref 123 already and you change to 4 digits, your tablets will accept 0123 to load the 123 patient. That being said, it would be wise to change the number of digits for your Ocean site at the end of the day or over the weekend to minimize the number of patients requiring zero padding.

What do I do if I see "Warning from Ocean: Notes and eRequests Require Download"?

Background

Ocean is not an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system and does not store patient data long-term. This approach follows privacy guidelines that recommend minimizing the storage of personal health information.

Every Monday morning, Ocean checks for patient data that is scheduled for deletion and may require a manual export or download to an EMR. This includes online referrals, website form submissions, and patient notes. An automatic deletion warning email is sent to the Ocean site contact at that time to alert them.

Steps to Take

The deletion warning email includes a list of items that are due to be removed from Ocean. Ocean Sites should review these to determine if any action is needed. This may include a manual export or download of information to the EMR, extending the purge date, or allowing the information to be deleted.

eReferrals & eConsults

If there are any eReferrals/eConsults that are due to be removed from Ocean, the email will indicate those that are pending removal and how to review them.

Note: eReferrals/eConsults that are 'Completed', 'Processed', 'Externally Managed', or 'Incomplete' (i.e., Saved for Later), will not trigger deletion warnings.

Examples of potential actions for you to take when an eReferral/eConsult is due to be removed from Ocean include:

Mark the eReferral/eConsult as Completed

If an eReferral/eConsult is flagged for scheduled removal and upon reviewing it you discover that the appointment date has passed and the patient has been seen, you can click the 'Completed' button within the eReferral/eConsult.

This updates the referral status to 'Completed' for all stakeholders involved in the referral, and indicates that the lifecycle of the referral has come to an end. Accordingly, once marked as completed, the referral will be removed from Ocean as per the scheduled removal date.

Add an Appointment Date to the eReferral

If an eReferral is flagged for scheduled removal and upon reviewing it you discover that no appointment date has been specified within the referral (e.g., you plan on seeing the patient, but have not yet provided an appointment date), you can add an appointment date within the 'Scheduling' area of the referral.

Once an appointment date has been specified in the referral, the referral's scheduled removal date may* be adjusted to a minimum of 30 days after the last appointment date.

Add an 'Anticipated Time to Appointment' to the eReferral

If an eReferral is flagged for scheduled removal and upon reviewing it you discover that no appointment date has been specified within the referral (e.g., you plan on seeing the patient, but have not yet provided an appointment date), but you are not immediately able to specify an exact appointment date, you can add an 'Anticipated Wait Time to Appointment' within the 'Scheduling' area of the referral.

Once an anticipated wait time has been specified in the referral, the referral's scheduled removal date may* be adjusted to a minimum of 60 days after the latter estimated wait time value.

Example: If a referral was sent on January 1st, 2024 and an 'Anticipated Wait Time to Appointment' of 14-18 months was specified in the referral, the referral would be scheduled to be removed 18 months and 60 days (i.e., a grand total of 20 months) after January 1st, 2024. This means that the scheduled removal date would be September 1st, 2025.

Notes

  • It is important to recognize that when an 'Anticipated Wait Time to Appointment' is added, the anticipated wait time is specifically with respect to the date that the referral was originally sent (e.g., January 1st 2024 in the example above).
  • Since most eReferrals are stored for a minimum of 12 months after the date they were originally sent by default, it is not guaranteed that simply specifying any 'Anticipated Wait Time to Appointment' within the referral will always extend the scheduled removal. For an anticipated wait time to extend the scheduled removal date, the anticipated wait time value must be greater than the referral's currently-calculated lifespan.
    • For example, if a referral was sent on January 1st, 2024 and scheduled to be removed on December 31st, 2024, an anticipated wait time of 4-6 weeks would have no impact on the removal date (since the default 365 day retention period supercedes the (4-6 weeks + 60 days) timeframe.
  • If needed, you have the option to update the 'Anticipated Time to Appointment' for multiple referrals at once.
Assign the eReferral/eConsult for Review

If an eReferral is flagged for scheduled removal and upon reviewing it you determine that it requires the attention of another user on your Ocean Site, you can assign it to them for review.

Once it has been assigned for review by a particular user, the referral's scheduled removal date may* be adjusted to a minimum of 365 days after the date that the review was requested.

Extend the Scheduled Removal Date by 60 Days

If an eReferral is flagged for scheduled removal, you can locate it in the 'Deletion Warnings' folder within the eConsults & eReferrals area and click the refresh symbol (circular arrow) at the end of the row to extend the scheduled removal date by 60 days from the current date (i.e., the date that the refresh symbol was clicked).

*Note

The examples provided above specifically use the term "may" when referring to the adjustment made to the scheduled removal date as a result of the action taken. This language has been purposefully used as it cannot be guaranteed that the action being taken is the sole contributor to a referral's scheduled removal date.

For more details regarding eReferral/eConsult storage in Ocean, please refer to this support article: How long will my eConsults/eReferrals be stored in Ocean?

Website Form Submissions

If there are any Website Form submissions that are due to be removed but have not been exported/downloaded, the email will tell you how many are pending removal and how to review them. Even if you are processing the submission as part of the initial "acceptance" workflow, it's a good idea to heed these warnings and export them for audit purposes.

You can do this by clicking the 'Import to EMR' button within the submission to trigger the download of the submission into your EMR (if your Ocean Site is integrated with your EMR), or you can manually download a PDF copy by opening the 'Action' menu within the submission and clicking 'Download Referral Record'.

You can then mark the submission as 'Completed', if appropriate.

Note: Website Form submissions that have been marked as 'Completed' do not trigger deletion warnings.

Patient Notes

For Ocean Sites that are not integrated using Ocean Cloud Connect, the email contains the EMR ID and the Ocean reference number of patients that have not been marked "downloaded to the EMR". We call these "orphaned notes" since the EMR has not claimed them promptly.

These notifications can be confusing. See below for a few quick FAQs.

What circumstances would lead to an orphaned note?

The PS Suite Custom Form integration and the OSCAR Classic EMR integration (i.e., Ocean Sites that do not use Cloud Connect) are only able to download notes when the chart for a particular patient is open and connected to Ocean. If the patient's chart isn't open or the chart doesn't know about the Ocean note, the note can remain orphaned.

Notes can be orphaned for a few reasons:
  • For an Ocean Site not using Cloud Connect, a web questionnaire was sent and the patient's chart hasn't been opened for months. Ocean has a configurable expiry date (default of 100 days), after which it will remove the patient, note and all. If you send out web questionnaires months in advance (e.g. a pediatrician sending an intake package to newly pregnant women), then this time period may expire before the chart is opened to download the note.
  • For an Ocean Site using the PS Suite Custom Form integration (i.e., not Cloud Connect), the Ocean Custom Form was removed from a chart in PS Suite before a tablet session or web questionnaire is complete.

  • A tablet session was completed and the initial note was downloaded, then the same ref was used to load the tablet again for the same patient. In this case, the Ocean Custom Form would be deleted after the first tablet session completed -- the notes associated with subsequent completions will be orphaned since the link to the EMR chart is broken.

    Note: If you are only using tablets (and not web questionnaires), most likely any "real" missing notes would be noticed at the time of the appointment and you can ignore the notifications.

What should you do about these orphaned notes?
  1. Login to the Ocean Portal. If you aren't already in the Patients view, click the "Menu" button in the top left corner and select "Patients".
  2. Review the outstanding notes by searching for your patients using their Ocean reference number. If this is the first time you are logging in to Ocean on your computer, you will need to enter your shared encryption key to see the encrypted data.
  3. A quick scan of the notes will usually give you some indication whether they are real or not. If appropriate, copy & paste the note into your EMR patient chart and remove the Ocean patient and patient record from Ocean.

Hint: If you want to pull a note back into PS Suite, simply insert the Ocean custom form as you would normally for that patient, click the generated 3 or 4 digit number and update it to the Ocean reference you want to import -- within a few seconds the note and any demographic changes will be downloaded and applied automatically.

How do I reduce the number of times this happens?

It depends on why you are getting orphaned notes.

  • If the leading cause is early-sending of web questionnaires, you can either act on the completion notification and download the note then, or extend the expiry date on the invitation to more than 100 days.
  • If the leading cause is testing, the warnings ought to settle down after a while.
  • Finally, if the leading cause is staff miskeys (i.e. removing the custom form or re-entering the Ocean patient reference number on the tablet after the patient has completed their forms), a recap on training might be appropriate.

However, the root cause of these issues may be something else specific to your workflow or process. If you think that you are getting too many orphaned notes, let us know at ocean.tips/support.

Where do Deletion Warning emails get sent to?

Depending on the nature of the data due to be removed and the configuration of your Ocean Site, the deletion warning emails may get sent to different email addresses. The logic for deletion warning emails is outlined below:

  • If only Website Forms/eReferrals/eConsults are due to be removed from your Ocean Site, the deletion warning email will be sent to the 'Default Incoming Referral Notification Email' configured in your Ocean Site's eReferrals & eConsults configuration area.
    • If no 'Default Incoming Referral Notification Email' has been set, the deletion warning email will be sent to the 'Clinical Administrator / Ocean Support Contact' email configured in your Ocean Site's Site Account settings area.
      • If no 'Clinical Administrator / Ocean Support Contact' email has been configured, the deletion warning email will be sent to the email address associated with Ocean user account set as the 'Payer' for your Ocean Site.
  • If Website Forms/eReferrals/eConsults and Patient Notes are due to be removed from your Ocean Site, the deletion warning email will be sent to the 'Default Incoming Referral Notification Email' configured in your Ocean Site's eReferrals & eConsults configuration area and the 'Clinical Administrator / Ocean Support Contact' email configured in your Ocean Site's Site Account settings area.
    • If no 'Clinical Administrator / Ocean Support Contact' has been configured, the email address associated with Ocean user account set as the 'Payer' for your Ocean Site will be used as a substitute.
  • If only Patient Notes are due to be removed from your Ocean Site, the deletion warning email will be sent to the 'Clinical Administrator / Ocean Support Contact' email configured in your Ocean Site's Site Account settings area.
    • If no 'Clinical Administrator / Ocean Support Contact' email has been configured, the deletion warning email will be sent to the email address associated with Ocean user account set as the 'Payer' for your Ocean Site.

Creation of Multiple Ocean Sites

By default, a single EMR instance should always be associated with a single Ocean site. This approach eliminates the risk of numerous issues that can arise when an EMR instance is associated with multiple Ocean sites. These may include technical, billing, and usage concerns.

There are some limited cases where an exception may be made, allowing a single EMR instance to be associated with multiple Ocean sites under extenuating circumstances. Special attention and consideration must be given when determining whether or not an exception should be made for a specific practice and/or EMR instance.

The series of questions below walks through the factors that must be considered before deciding to create an additional Ocean site(s) for a single EMR instance. Please ensure that you complete the entire series of questions to determine whether or not multiple Ocean sites are appropriate.

1. Can your EMR support multiple Ocean sites?

Only certain EMRs are capable of being associated with multiple Ocean sites.

It is not possible for clinics using OSCAR Pro or Med Access to have multiple Ocean sites associated with their single EMR instance. Clinics using these EMRs can only have a single Ocean site.

  • OSCAR Pro
  • Med Access
  • PS Suite
  • Accuro

If the clinic is using either PS Suite or Accuro, please proceed to the following question.

2. Are staff shared between clinics/practices?

This includes administrative staff, physicians and allied health staff.

  • Staff are shared among clinics/practices/sites
  • Staff are not shared among clinics/practices/sites

If staff are not being shared among clinics, please proceed to the following question.

3. Specific EMR Considerations

There are certain EMR-specific considerations that must be taken into account when deciding if multiple Ocean sites are feasible for a single EMR instance. Please expand the appropriate EMR tab below.

PS Suite

Do you share computers/workstations?

If computers/workstations are being shared among staff under different clinics/practices, significant issues will arise during Ocean configuration.

  • Computers/workstations are shared
  • Computers/workstations are not shared

If computers are not being shared, please proceed to the next question.

Do you share physical space?

Physical space includes exam rooms, check-in areas, administrative workspaces, etc.

  • Physical space is shared
  • Physical space is not shared

If physical space is not being shared, the clinic is eligible to have multiple Ocean sites associated with a single PS Suite EMR instance.

PS Suite Set-Up

Sites will need to ensure that the Ocean Toolbar on each workstation is associated with the appropriate Ocean Site. Please refer to the following article for steps on how to do this: How do I switch between Ocean sites on PS Suite?

Accuro

Do you share EMR schedules?

  • EMR schedules are shared
  • EMR schedules are not shared

If EMR schedules are not being shared, the clinic is eligible to have multiple Ocean sites associated with a single Accuro EMR instance.

Accuro Set-Up

Please note that if you're setting up your single Accuro Instance to multiple Ocean Sites you will need a different API and Username for each Ocean Site.

Sites will also need to be diligent when setting up their CDS links to ensure they are using the correct API Username and Password, as well as naming the CDS links clearly. We would also highly recommend setting up User Friendly CDS links.