Accuro: Set Your Custom Patient Reminder Status

If you are planning on using Patient Reminders, Ocean is able to mark your patient appointments with an "Ocean Reminder Sent" status, once they've been sent an automated appointment reminder email through Ocean. This feature is separate from Ocean eReferral appointment emails, and requires users to have a patient messaging and reminders licence.

In order to enable this, you will need to create a custom Ocean-related status in your Accuro EMR.

This step is an optional part of setting up the integration between QHR Accuro and Ocean, for users who have a patient messaging and reminders licence.

Ocean can automatically trigger a custom status in Accuro to provide a visual indication when a patient reminder has been sent to the patient.

  1. Configure your custom statuses in Accuro.

    • From the Accuro EMR, click the Accuro (target) logo in the bottom left and type "status" in the search box.
    • Select "Manage Priorities, Reasons and Statuses".
    • At the bottom of the Status area, click on the green plus (+) sign to add a new status.
    • Enter a name for your status, such as "Ocean Reminder Sent".
    • Double-click on the box under the Abbr column to select an abbreviation for the status.

      Note: Abbreviations must be at least one capital letter in length.

    • Double-click on the box under the Icon column to select the custom status shape.

      Note: If an abbreviation has been set, an icon is optional.

    • Double-click on the box under the Colour column to choose a colour for the status.
    • Click 'Apply'.
  2. Confirm your custom statuses in Ocean Cloud Connect.

    After you have created your custom status in Accuro, you should confirm that your Cloud Connect settings match the custom status names you selected in Accuro.

    • Locate the 'Appt Reminder Sent Custom Status Name' setting, and ensure that the value is identical to the name of the custom status created in Accuro.

Accessing Accuro Provider IDs

When troubleshooting a potential Provider permissions issue in Ocean's Accuro integration, the Accuro API is only able to provide Ocean insight into a Provider entry via an internal EMR ID number.

To help Ocean Support determine which ID number corresponds to which provider to facilitate troubleshooting, the following steps can be taken in the EMR by a member of the clinic staff:

  • From the Accuro main menu, select File > User Preferences.
  • In the User Preferences window, select the 'Search' icon on the left-hand side.
  • Under 'Search Types', ensure 'Provider' is selected.
  • Under 'Fields to Display in Result', ensure 'Provider ID' is enabled.
  • At the bottom of the window, select 'Apply' and then click 'OK'.
  • Return to the Accuro menu and select Tools > Configure Providers.
  • On the Provider Management screen, you will see a master list of all Accuro providers (now with corresponding ID numbers) located under the 'Search Results' column on the left.

    When troubleshooting with Ocean Support, you can provide a screenshot of this list, or flag specific Provider ID numbers for Ocean Support to review and query via internal audits.


QHR-Accuro Onboarding: Guide to Contracting & API Enablement

 

This guide provides tips to ensure that requests to enable Ocean are handled in a smooth and timely manner. Please note that Accuro can take up to four weeks to process requests, so it’s critical to follow the steps below and ensure accurate information is submitted to avoid unnecessary delays.

Step 1: Check for Existing API Access

Before submitting a request to Accuro, please ensure that the clinic has not already connected to the Ocean API, by checking for an existing CDS Link in Accuro (see instructions found here).

If the clinic has an Ocean CDS link, please speak with your Ocean representative. Your clinic may be able to simply update provider permissions found here.

Step 2: Request a Contract

Contract requests can be submitted by using the form found in the Ocean Getting Started Guide (Step 3) or a dedicated Accuro API request page form (Ontario eServices). Please note that QHR may take up to one week to respond with a contract for signing.
To avoid delays, please ensure that the request accurately includes the following information:

  • Correct contact information for a Contract Signatory at the site/clinic.
  • Names and emails for all providers to be enabled. Do NOT include clinic admins or other users in the provider list.
  • The correct Accuro Office Name as it is entered in the EMR (this can be found in the upper right-hand corner when logged into Accuro - see image below).

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Step 3: Sign the Contract to Initiate API Enablement

QHR will send a contract for signing to the signatory contact provided. 

Step 4: Retrieve Password from Accuro Support

Once the API has been enabled, the contract signatory will receive an email with the details required to set up Ocean (Tenant ID, UUID, User Name). This email will also direct the clinic staff to call Accuro support to retrieve their password. Note - When calling for the password, it is recommended that the team member request a call back as wait times for support can be long.

Step 5: Complete Ocean Integration

You are now ready to complete the steps to integrate your EMR to Ocean!


Accuro: How can I check to see if my EMR is connected to the Accuro API?

The CDS (Clinical Decision Support) option in Accuro's quick action menu provides a convenient user interface for interacting with Ocean directly within Accuro. If your Accuro EMR is connected to the API, Global CDS links for Ocean should be visible in the Manage Global CDS page in Accuro. 

To check this, follow the instructions below:

  • In Accuro, open the Accuro action menu by clicking the crosshairs icon at the bottom left of the EMR. Enter the CDS menu and select "Manage Global CDS". Scroll down the list of available CDS links to see if any have the word "Ocean" in them. If they do, the site has been set up in the past to connect to Ocean (and the API should already be enabled). 
  • If your EMR has Global CDS links for Ocean already configured, please contact the Ocean support team to inquire about accessing your Ocean-Accuro credentials (UUID, Tenant and Username).

 

 


Updating Accuro Provider Permissions

You should follow the steps in this guide if you are experiencing one or more of the following scenarios:

  1. Having successfully configured and enabled providers in Ocean Cloud Connect, one or more providers are not appearing on the Patients page in the Ocean portal
  2. Some, or all, patient bookings are not appearing in Ocean's Day Sheet
  3. Provider schedules have been enabled for messaging and reminders, but some provider's patients are not receiving automated reminder emails
  4. Patients are not able to confirm an appointment from their automated reminder emails.

Prerequisites

Accuro

To update provider permissions, an EMR user with full administrative access is required.

If you do not have administrative permissions, consult your clinic manager or speak to QHR Client Services directly for assistance.

Ocean

To make changes in Cloud Connect, your user account will need admin permissions enabled.


  1. Update Accuro API Permissions

    • Open the Accuro menu and navigate to Users > Manage Security.
    • From the Manage Security window, select the “Users” option on the sidebar.
    • Using the “Users” dropdown menu, locate and select your Accuro API user. This username is typically in the format "OceanAPI[tenant ID]."
    • Once selected, open the “Provider Permissions” tab.
    • For each Office configuration in your EMR, ensure the user has permissions checked off under the following columns for each provider schedule:

      • Patient
      • Scheduling
      • Billing
      • EMR
      • Labs
      • Visible

  2. Perform A Full Scheduled Sync

    Once the API permissions in Accuro have been updated, we recommend performing a full schedule sync of the integration to verify the EMR changes are reflected in Ocean.

    To perform a full schedule sync, please follow these steps:

    • Under the "Sync Status" panel, select the icon to the immediate right of the "Sync Recent Appointments" button
    • From the dropdown, select "Sync Full Schedule"
    • Upon initiating a sync, the status bar colour in the "Sync Status" panel will momentarily change to green. Once the status bar returns to its default blue colour, the sync is complete and you can sign out of Cloud Connect.


Once complete, return to your Ocean site's Patients page, refresh the browser, and verify if previously missing providers and appointments are now appearing. 


Accuro: Manually Uploading Patients into Ocean

Normally, Ocean will automatically resynchronize appointments with the Accuro appointment schedule every 30 minutes. This is generally a sufficient time frame to have all the patients who need to fill out Ocean forms, loaded into Ocean.

However, if you go to email a patient more than a week in advance of their appointment, you may sometimes find that they are not in Ocean yet. Not to worry - you can easily upload this patient into Ocean by using a Ocean online message CDS link or the "Fetch Patient" feature in the Ocean Portal.

After your patient has been uploaded into Ocean, you can send the patient a message by clicking on their name, as you normally would.

CDS Link Ocean Portal
  • Once you've selected a patient in your Accuro EMR, you can use either the "Ocean Portal" or "Send Ocean Online Message" CDS link from the main target Accuro menu to directly upload a patient into Ocean, right from your EMR.
  • Once you've selected the CDS link for the patient, Ocean should upload the patient into less than 30 seconds.
  • Once the patient has successfully been uploaded into Ocean, you should be redirected to either the Ocean Portal with the patient selected or the Ocean online message editor window.

Accuro: Mapping Answers from an Ocean eForm to a Custom Demographics Field

Prerequisites:

    • Custom demographic fields have been created in Accuro
  • Custom demographic fields are populated for at least 1 patient in Accuro
    • Custom demographic fields must be enabled in Ocean Cloud Connect
  1. Tag your custom demographic note in your Ocean eForm.

    • When you are building your eForms, if you "tag" a caption or custom note by surrounding a single word with "@" and ": $$", then the value of that item will be available for use with EMR field mapping.
    • Multi-Word Responses

      If the response value entered by a patient includes multiple words, Ocean will by default only capture the first word.

      To fully capture a multi-word patient response, place quotation marks around the $$ characters in the Custom Note like so: @taggedField: "$$"

    • If you would like to pre-populate the eForm field with the custom demographic value recorded for that patient in Accuro, ensure that the "Prepopulate this item with" field is set to: "@ptCustom.EMRField" (where 'EMRField' is the name of your custom demographic).
    • Important Note:

      If your custom demographics field is more than one word in Accuro, you will need to combine the phrase into one word.

      For example: If your custom demographic field is called "Email Consent" in Accuro, your "Custom Note" will be @EmailConsent in the eForm and your "Prepopulate this item with" field will be @ptCustom.EmailConsent.

  2. Create the corresponding custom demographic in Ocean.

    • Login to the Ocean Portal. Click the "Menu" button in the top left corner and select "Admin".
    • From the Admin Settings page, click "EMR Field Mapping" and select "Add Row".
    • Next, ensure the "Type" dropdown is set to "Custom Demographic."
    • The "Tagged Field" column's value corresponds to the field in your Ocean eForm (all one word, without the leading '@' or ': $$' portions -- i.e. EmailConsent)
    • Name the "EMR Field" the exact value of the custom demographic name in Accuro.
    • Be sure to Save Changes before leaving this page.
  3. Test out your new custom demographic.

    • Now, if a patient completes an Ocean eForm that contains your custom demographic item, the result will be set in the corresponding custom demographic field in the patient's chart.

Accuro: Mapping Answers from an Ocean eForm to a Lab Value

  1. Tag your measurement in your Ocean eForm.

    • When you are building your eForms, if you "tag" a caption or custom note by surrounding a single word with "@" and ": $$", then the value will be available for use with EMR field mapping.

      Please note: a tagged field cannot contain spaces. For example, "@myLabValue: $$" would be correct, but "@my Lab Value: $$" would not work.

      An example of an eForm tagged field can be found in the screenshot to the right or in the note generated by this standard PHQ-9 questionnaire.
  2. Create a lab value in Accuro for your Ocean answer.

    • Log in to Accuro and enter the EMR section's Encounter Notes tab.
    • Click on the green plus sign in the "Labs" panel to create a new lab test.
    • This will open up the Lab Tests dialog box, where you can add a new lab test by clicking on the green plus sign.
    • This will open up the Edit Lab Tests dialog box, where you can add new lab test results by clicking on the green plus sign.
    • This will then open up the Lab Results dialog box, where you can add new lab test result by clicking on the New button at the bottom, or selecting an existing result from the list.
    • Creating a new result will open up the Edit Result dialog box, where you can define the data type and units.
    • Leave the "Source Code" field blank.
    • Click the green plus sign to add a reference range for your lab result (if applicable).
    • Click "OK" when you're done editing your result.
    • Back in the lab results window, ensure your result is selected and click "OK."
    • You should now see your new lab test results appear in your "Edit Lab Test" dialog box.
    • Click "OK" to save your new lab test.
  3. Create the corresponding lab value in your Ocean Portal.

    • Login to the Ocean Portal. Click the "Menu" button in the top left corner and select "Admin".
    • From the Admin Settings page, click "EMR Field Mapping".
    • Add a new row and confirm the following:

      First, ensure the "Type" dropdown is set to "Lab Value."

      "Tagged Field" must match the tagged value defined in your Ocean eForm. (Do not include the "@", ":", or "$$" symbols in this field.)

      "EMR Field" must correspond and match exactly the lab test name, defined in Accuro.

      "EMR Sub-Field" must correspond and match exactly the lab result name, defined in Accuro.

    • Be sure to save your changes.
  4. Test out your new custom lab value.

    • Now, if a patient completes a questionnaire with your lab value, the measurement will then be set in the "Labs" panel of their Encounter Notes in Accuro.

Accuro: Troubleshooting Cloud Connect

If you are experiencing an error while setting up Cloud Connect, refer to the table below. If you require further support, please feel free to submit a request to our support team to our support team.

Error Message Meaning What to do
(HTTP 400) "Database could not be verified" UUID was entered incorrectly Re-enter UUID (without spaces) to finalize integration