This section answers frequently asked questions about the functionalities relating to an eReferral.
If an eReferral/eConsult is cancelled or declined, the original sender can resubmit it to the original recipient at any time using the 'Resubmit' option within the 'Action' menu.
If necessary, the original sender can update or add additional information to their referral form answers prior to resubmitting by pressing the pencil icon within the 'Referral Form Summary' area.
Yes, you're able to download a complete copy of the entire referral record at any point in a referral's lifecycle.
Note: The 'Amend' and 'Delete' options are only available to the user who sent the message.
Note: These functionalities are only available for Notes created by your own Ocean site.
Yes, eReferral recipients can use Ocean's Patient Messaging functionalities to securely message patients and send them Ocean eForms to complete ahead of their appointment.
Please note that to use Ocean's Patient Messaging functionalities, a Patient Messaging & Reminders License is required. For additional information on the cost of Ocean's Patient Engagement products, please see our pricing page.
Complete the steps in the Set Up Patient Messages guide to enable and configure patient messaging on your Ocean site.
Use the pop-up window to send a customized message and/or eForm to the patient, or select one of your existing templates for convenience. When your message is ready, press 'Send'.
For additional information regarding the options in this window, please refer to Patient Messages Settings.
After the patient completes their eForm(s), the generated eForm note can be found within the 'Patient's Note' area of the eReferral.
Note: If your Ocean site is integrated with your EMR, the generated eForm note will automatically be added to the respective patient's chart.
If your Ocean site is not integrated with your EMR, you will need to manually import the generated notes.
Ocean has built-in functionality to allow you to easily assign an eReferral for review by another user on your Ocean site.
This is helpful for triaging, organizing, and actioning incoming eReferrals. An eReferral can be flagged for review at any time during the referral process, allowing for appropriate reviewal even before deciding to accept or decline it.
The review process can also be performed without flagging a specific person that an eReferral needs to be reviewed. In other words, the review form functionality can be used as a standalone tool for applying a structured review process to the referrals that you receive.
Please expand the appropriate tab below to learn more about each aspect of the reviewing process:
Note: To assign an eReferral for review without triggering an email notification, simply press 'Save & Close' after selecting a user.
Note: The email notification will be sent to the Email Address listed in the reviewer's Ocean user account settings.
The review note area will appear on the right hand side.
Note: Review forms can be customized to suit the review processes of each Ocean Site, so your specific form may look slightly different.
eReferral recipients can now specify the method for how appointments booked on their referrals will occur (in person, as a home visit, or a virtual visit by phone or video). This is done in the Scheduling pane of eReferrals in the Medium dropdown to the right of each appointment date and time.
Note: Medium is a mandatory field. It will default to "In Person" at the address of the directory listing the referral belongs to. If this is not accurate, please ensure the dropdown selection is changed before saving the booking details.
When a consult or referral is first sent or when it is updated, the user can specify additional stakeholders for the consult and/or referral. The stakeholders must exist as directory listings within the Ocean Health Map.
The "Copy of referral and status updates to" stakeholders can be automatically notified regarding important status changes, such as a booking or a cancellation.
The stakeholders are shown in the following areas:
When a status changes, Ocean determines how each stakeholder should be notified.
Stakeholder listings that have been claimed by an Ocean site are notified automatically via a notification email sent from Ocean, similar to how referrers/senders are notified in the Ocean eReferral Network.
Stakeholder listings that have not been claimed by an Ocean site cannot be notified via an Ocean email or be sent results electronically via Ocean. Consequently, the consult and/or referral and its associated information must be faxed to the listing or sent in some other manner. Similarly, when a consult and/or referral with one of these "offline" stakeholder listings is updated by a user, Ocean informs the user that a manual notification is necessary for the listing. Users can send these manual notifications by printing the "Fax Notification Sheet" and faxing it to the recipient.
Once you've accepted a referral and begin scheduling a patient's appointment, you may want to schedule more than one appointment time. You can do so within the eReferral window.
Note: If you are unsure of the exact appointment time, you can book a blank appointment slot which will place the referral back into "Pending Booking". This allows you to keep track of appointments to book in the future. Once you confirm the appointment, you can repeat the steps above.
If your site receives a referral that needs to be managed in a couple different ways, or split into multiple health service offerings, you can use the Add Related Referral functionality. For example, perhaps your site receives an Orthopedic referral for a patient's right hip, but an assessment outcome determines the left hip should be treated as well. The related referral functionality allows the recipient to make a copy of the original referral for the right hip, so that the left hip referral can be forwarded or booked separately.
There may be times where an Ocean eConsult and/or eReferral is initiated, but further information is required before it can be completed and sent (e.g. physician is waiting on a prior imaging report, or lab result to include in the referral).
Warning: This consult and/or referral will only be saved for 30 days, so you'll need to complete the it in that time frame. After 30 days, this URL can no longer be used, and you'll need to initiate the consult and/or referral again.
