Guide to Receiving eConsults

Understanding the eReferrals & eConsults View

Learn how to navigate Ocean's eReferrals & eConsults area, and the basic sections within an eConsult.

The eReferrals & eConsults view is used for viewing, tracking, and managing all of your eConsults in one central area. Learning the basic functionalities of this area will allow you to confidently navigate Ocean and handle your eConsults with ease.

eReferrals & eConsults View Opening an eConsult

The diagram below outlines the key areas and functionalities in the eReferrals & eConsults view.

1. Search Box

To find a specific eConsult, type into the search bar. You can search by patient surname, or the names of the related healthcare providers.

2. General Folder Group

These folders are used to flag eConsults that need to be reviewed, eConsults that have been flagged for your specific attention, and eConsults you have recently viewed.

3. Sent/Received Status Folder Group

The 'Received' and 'Sent' folder groupings contain individual status folders which are used to organize eConsults as they progress through their lifecycle. The specific purpose of each status folder is defined in this support article.

4. Actions Menu

Used for quick access and advanced functionalities, including launching the Ocean Healthmap, exporting your eReferrals and eConsults, batch print eReferrals and eConsults, and viewing a patient's referral and consult history.

5. Group-Level Filters

Contains filters that can be applied across all status folders within the 'Sent' or 'Received' folder grouping.

6. Folder-Specific Filters

Contains filters that can be applied only within the currently-opened status folder.

7. Patient Referral List

Shows basic information about the patient eConsults that match your currently selected folder and applied filter(s).

8. Settings Button

Used for accessing the configuration options available for eReferrals & eConsults at your Ocean Site.

9. Status Icons

Used for quickly indicating relevant statuses and characteristics for each eReferral & eConsult. A full legend for all icons is found in this support article.

An eConsult can be opened by simply clicking on it from the patient referral list. The diagram below outlines the key areas and functionalities within an eConsult.

1. Health Service Offering

The patient's name, health service offering that they were consulted for, and MRN/EMR ID number are displayed at the top of the eConsult.

2. Action Menu

Used to action and manage the eConsult from directly within. Each action menu item is described in detail in this support article.

3. General

Contains basic information regarding the patient, the sender, the date of the eConsult, and any additional stakeholders copied on the consult.

4. Notes

Used for general and/or private note-taking regarding the eConsult, as well as advanced functionalities such as the review/triage form.

5. Messaging

Used for communicating with other eConsult stakeholders, requesting additional information prior to accepting/declining an eConsult (e.g., lab values, imaging results), and providing consultation advice to sending providers for accepted eConsults.

6. Referral Form Summary

Contains a note summarizing the sender's responses to the eConsult form questions/criteria during the eConsult sending process.

7. Patient's Note

If the patient recently completed an Ocean eForm(s), or any Secure Messages were sent and/or responded to, the resultant note(s) will be displayed here.

Providers with an Ocean Patient Messages license can use the envelope icon to send a secure message and/or additional digital questionnaires to the patient.

8. Needs Review

Used to assign an eConsult to be reviewed by another user on your Ocean site.

9. Action Buttons

Used to accept or decline the eConsult.
Accepting & Declining eConsults

Learn how to accept, decline, and import eConsults into your EMR.

PS Suite Med Access Accuro OSCAR Pro Non-Integrated

1. Receive an email notification and access the eConsult
- When you receive a new eConsult, you will receive an email notification based on your notification configuration.
- Log in to the Ocean Portal, and use the menu to navigate to the 'eReferrals & eConsults' area.
- Locate the eConsult under the 'Received' tab and within the 'New' status folder. Click on the eConsult to open it and view more details.
  
  Tip: Certain columns can be used to sort your referrals into ascending/descending order. Simply click the column header.
2. Review and accept or decline the eConsult
- After opening the eConsult, review it's contents to gain a more detailed understanding of the consult and ensure it contains all of the information you require.
  
  Tip: If necessary, you can assign the eConsult to be reviewed by another user on your Ocean site for a secondary review.
- Use the 'Decline' or 'Accept eConsult' button at the bottom of the eConsult to indicate your decision.
  
  If you believe that the patient should be referred to your clinic instead, click 'Accept as eReferral'. Then, follow the steps in this guide.
Accept Decline
PS Suite Med Access Accuro OSCAR Pro Other EMR
PS Suite with Cloud Connect Integration

When you accept a new eConsult and your PS Suite EMR is integrated using Cloud Connect, Ocean will search for an existing patient in your EMR with the matching healthcard number and date of birth, and automatically import the consult note into the corresponding chart as a new encounter note.

If no corresponding chart is found, a new chart will be generated and populated with the consult information.

If Ocean automatically generated a new patient chart and the name of the referring provider already exists in your PS Suite address book, the 'Referring MD/NP' chart field will also be updated with the referrer's name.

Note: Ocean matches the referring provider's information with the PS Suite address book using First Name and Last Name.

If more than one provider exists in the PS Suite address book with the same first and last name, Ocean uses the referrer's fax number to match with the correct provider.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, and fax number, Ocean will not update 'Referring MD/NP' field.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, but no matching fax number is found, Ocean will not update 'Referring MD/NP' field.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.

PS Suite without Cloud Connect Integration

If your PS Suite EMR is not integrated using Cloud Connect, you will be provided with an numeric code to import the eConsult into your EMR using the following steps:

Manually navigate into the patient's chart in PS Suite. If the patient does not yet exist in the EMR, create a new stub chart.

You can then use the 'Import' button on the Ocean Toolbar to import the patient's eConsult using the provided numeric code. The patient's demographic fields will automatically update the chart when the consult is imported, and a new encounter note containing the consult summary will be generated.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.
When you accept a new eConsult, the referral information will be automatically imported as a new Active Task in the patient's chart with the matching healthcard number and date of birth in your Med Access EMR.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.

If no chart with a matching healthcard number and date of birth is found, Ocean will automatically generate a new chart and import the consult notes into it. The patient's demographic fields will also automatically update in the patient's chart.

Note: The 'Patient Status' field in new charts generated by Ocean will be set by default to 'Unconfirmed'. Ensure that you update the status to 'Active' (or your preferred status) after accepting the eConsult.

If Ocean automatically generated a new patient chart and the name of the referring provider already exists in your Med Access address book, the 'Referring Provider' chart field will also be updated with the referrer's name.

Note: Ocean matches the referring provider's information with the Med Access address book using First Name and Last Name.

If more than one provider exists in the Med Access address book with the same first and last name, Ocean uses the referrer's fax number to match with the correct provider.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, and fax number, Ocean will not update 'Referring Provider' field.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, but no matching fax number is found, Ocean will not update 'Referring Provider' field.

Ocean-MA Extension: Task Category and Type Adjustments

If you use the Ocean-MA Extension, it will automatically recognize upon opening the Task that it is related to an Ocean eConsult.

The extension will automatically adjust the Task 'Category' and 'Type' values to correspond with the Ocean eConsult.

After reviewing the changes and making any other necessary adjustments to the Task, click 'Save'. The Task will be automatically categorized into the 'Active Requests' section of the corresponding 'Consults ' or 'Investigations' area of the patient chart.
When you accept a new eConsult, the referral note will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in Accuro with the matching healthcard number and date of birth.

Depending on your Cloud Connect configuration, the consult note will either appear as an Encounter Note or a Document.

Note: It is recommended that your Cloud Connect settings are configured to save sent and received eReferrals and eConsults as Documents to ensure that any file attachments are automatically imported into Accuro.

By default, the Document Provider will be 'Unassigned'. However, automatic Document Provider assignment can optionally be enabled in your Cloud Connect settings.

If no chart with a matching healthcard number and date of birth is found, Ocean will automatically generate a new chart and import the consult notes into it. The patient's demographic fields will also automatically update in the patient's chart.

If Ocean automatically generated a new patient chart and the name of the referring provider already exists in your Accuro address book, the 'Referring Phys' chart field will also be updated with the referrer's name.

Note: Ocean matches the referring provider's information with the Accuro address book using First Name and Last Name.

If more than one provider exists in the Accuro address book with the same first and last name, Ocean uses the referrer's fax number to match with the correct provider.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, and fax number, Ocean will not update 'Referring Phys' field.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, but no matching fax number is found, Ocean will not update 'Referring Phys' field.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.
When you accept a new eConsult, the consult note will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in OSCAR Pro with the matching healthcard number and date of birth.

The consult note is imported in PDF format into the 'Documents' area of the chart.

If no chart with a matching healthcard number and date of birth is found, Ocean will automatically generate a new chart and import the consult notes into it. The patient's demographic fields will also automatically update in the patient's chart.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.
If you use a non-integrated EMR, you can download the eConsult after accepting it and manually upload it into your EMR as a PDF.

Tip: You can download a copy of the eConsult record at any time.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.
- If declining an eConsult, you will be prompted to enter a reason for the declination, with the option to provide an additional message for the declination email notifications.
  
  A message will also appear to inform you of the stakeholder that the eConsult will be returned to.
- If the patient consented to email notifications, you can additionally choose whether or not the patient should also receive the declination email notification.
- The eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Declined' status folder.
Providing Consultation Advice

Learn how to respond to an eConsult with consultation advice using the Messaging functionality.

Once you have accepted an eConsult, your next step will be to review the details of the consult and provide advice accordingly.

How do I provide consultation advice?
- Within the 'Messaging' area, simply select the appropriate message recipient using the 'To:' dropdown (if multiple stakeholders are involved in the eConsult), type your message into the text box and optionally add an attachment.
  
  Tip: For increased efficiency, you can also create canned responses for your Ocean Site that are easily selectable using the speech bubble icon.
- Ensure the box next to 'Respond as an eConsult' is checked.
- Select an accurate timespan from the 'Billing time' dropdown for tracking purposes. Click 'Send'.
- Once you have sent your consultation advice, select 'Close'.
- The eConsult will now shift into the 'eConsult in Progress' status folder.
- The sender of the eConsult will receive an email notification that you have provided consultation advice.
  
  Note: All messages within an eConsult are visible to all involved stakeholders.
Additional Message Functionalities
- Once a message has been sent, additional functionalities can be accessed by clicking clicking on the message header.
- Note: The 'Amend' and 'Delete' options are only available to the user who sent the message.
Download Addendum Letter

Downloads a PDF document containing basic eConsult information and the selected message.

Amend

Copies the selected message into the new message text field, to allow for additional information to be added.

Delete

Deletes the message.
View Responses to Consultation Advice

Learn how a sender can respond to the consultation advice you have provided.

After you have responded to an eConsult with your consultation advice, the sender can take action in a few different ways:

Sender Follows Up with Additional Information
- The sender may review your consultation advice and follow up with additional questions or information.
- These can be reviewed in the 'Messaging' area of the eConsult, where you can respond. Correspondence with the sender can continue as long as necessary.
- If a sender follows up with additional information, the eConsult will remain in the 'eConsult in Progress' status folder. It will also be found in the 'Needs Review' status folder.
- Any messages that have not been reviewed will be indicated by a yellow exclamation icon. To acknowledge that messages from the sender have been seen, mark the eConsult as 'Reviewed & Close'. The eConsult will then be removed from the 'Needs Review' folder.
Sender Changes the eConsult to an eReferral
- At any time during the lifecycle of an eConsult, the sender can choose to change the eConsult to an eReferral.
- If an eConsult is changed to an eReferral by the sender, it will be found in the 'Needs Review' and 'New' status folders in the Ocean Portal.
  
  Follow the steps in this guide to take action.
Sender Requests to Proceed with eReferral
- If the sender has reviewed your consultation advice and feels that a referral is necessary, they can request that you proceed with a eReferral for the patient.
- In this case, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Needs Review' and 'New' status folders in the Ocean Portal.
- In the 'Messaging' area of the eConsult, you will find a message containing a request to proceed with an eReferral, along with the reasoning for this request.
  
  Follow the steps in this guide to move forward with an eReferral.
Sender Completes eConsult
- If the sender has reviewed your consultation advice and is satisfied with your exchange, they can choose to mark the eConsult as completed.
- The eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Needs Review' and 'Completed' status folders.
Note: Upon acknowledging the completed eConsult as reviewed by selecting 'Reviewed & Close', a final copy of the eConsult record will be automatically downloaded into the patient's chart in your EMR. This applies to Med Access, Accuro, or OSCAR Pro users.

For other EMRs, you can manually download a final copy of the referral/consult record.

Mark a Completed eConsult as Incomplete
- If you believe that the eConsult is not yet complete, you can select 'Mark Incomplete' to continue the exchange with the sender.
- The eConsult will automatically move to the 'eConsult in Progress' status folder for both parties. You can then continue communicating with the sender until they mark the eConsult as completed.

Understanding the eReferrals & eConsults View

Learn how to navigate Ocean's eReferrals & eConsults area, and the basic sections within an eConsult.

The eReferrals & eConsults view is used for viewing, tracking, and managing all of your eConsults in one central area. Learning the basic functionalities of this area will allow you to confidently navigate Ocean and handle your eConsults with ease.

The diagram below outlines the key areas and functionalities in the eReferrals & eConsults view.

1. Search Box: To find a specific eConsult, type into the search bar. You can search by patient surname, or the names of the related healthcare providers.
2. General Folder Group: These folders are used to flag eConsults that need to be reviewed, eConsults that have been flagged for your specific attention, and eConsults you have recently viewed.
3. Sent/Received Status Folder Group: The 'Received' and 'Sent' folder groupings contain individual status folders which are used to organize eConsults as they progress through their lifecycle. The specific purpose of each status folder is defined in this support article.
4. Actions Menu: Used for quick access and advanced functionalities, including launching the Ocean Healthmap, exporting your eReferrals and eConsults, batch print eReferrals and eConsults, and viewing a patient's referral and consult history.
5. Group-Level Filters: Contains filters that can be applied across all status folders within the 'Sent' or 'Received' folder grouping.
6. Folder-Specific Filters: Contains filters that can be applied only within the currently-opened status folder.
7. Patient Referral List: Shows basic information about the patient eConsults that match your currently selected folder and applied filter(s).
8. Settings Button: Used for accessing the configuration options available for eReferrals & eConsults at your Ocean Site.
9. Status Icons: Used for quickly indicating relevant statuses and characteristics for each eReferral & eConsult. A full legend for all icons is found in this support article.

An eConsult can be opened by simply clicking on it from the patient referral list. The diagram below outlines the key areas and functionalities within an eConsult.

1. Health Service Offering: The patient's name, health service offering that they were consulted for, and MRN/EMR ID number are displayed at the top of the eConsult.
2. Action Menu: Used to action and manage the eConsult from directly within. Each action menu item is described in detail in this support article.
3. General: Contains basic information regarding the patient, the sender, the date of the eConsult, and any additional stakeholders copied on the consult.
4. Notes: Used for general and/or private note-taking regarding the eConsult, as well as advanced functionalities such as the review/triage form.
5. Messaging: Used for communicating with other eConsult stakeholders, requesting additional information prior to accepting/declining an eConsult (e.g., lab values, imaging results), and providing consultation advice to sending providers for accepted eConsults.
6. Referral Form Summary: Contains a note summarizing the sender's responses to the eConsult form questions/criteria during the eConsult sending process.
7. Patient's Note: If the patient recently completed an Ocean eForm(s), or any Secure Messages were sent and/or responded to, the resultant note(s) will be displayed here.; Providers with an Ocean Patient Messages license can use the envelope icon to send a secure message and/or additional digital questionnaires to the patient.
8. Needs Review: Used to assign an eConsult to be reviewed by another user on your Ocean site.
9. Action Buttons: Used to accept or decline the eConsult.

Accepting & Declining eConsults

Learn how to accept, decline, and import eConsults into your EMR.

1. Receive an email notification and access the eConsult

When you receive a new eConsult, you will receive an email notification based on your notification configuration.
Log in to the Ocean Portal, and use the menu to navigate to the 'eReferrals & eConsults' area.

Locate the eConsult under the 'Received' tab and within the 'New' status folder. Click on the eConsult to open it and view more details.

Tip: Certain columns can be used to sort your referrals into ascending/descending order. Simply click the column header.

2. Review and accept or decline the eConsult

After opening the eConsult, review it's contents to gain a more detailed understanding of the consult and ensure it contains all of the information you require.

Tip: If necessary, you can assign the eConsult to be reviewed by another user on your Ocean site for a secondary review.

Use the 'Decline' or 'Accept eConsult' button at the bottom of the eConsult to indicate your decision.

If you believe that the patient should be referred to your clinic instead, click 'Accept as eReferral'. Then, follow the steps in this guide.

PS Suite with Cloud Connect Integration

When you accept a new eConsult and your PS Suite EMR is integrated using Cloud Connect, Ocean will search for an existing patient in your EMR with the matching healthcard number and date of birth, and automatically import the consult note into the corresponding chart as a new encounter note.
If no corresponding chart is found, a new chart will be generated and populated with the consult information.

If Ocean automatically generated a new patient chart and the name of the referring provider already exists in your PS Suite address book, the 'Referring MD/NP' chart field will also be updated with the referrer's name.

Note: Ocean matches the referring provider's information with the PS Suite address book using First Name and Last Name.

If more than one provider exists in the PS Suite address book with the same first and last name, Ocean uses the referrer's fax number to match with the correct provider.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, and fax number, Ocean will not update 'Referring MD/NP' field.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, but no matching fax number is found, Ocean will not update 'Referring MD/NP' field.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.

PS Suite without Cloud Connect Integration

If your PS Suite EMR is not integrated using Cloud Connect, you will be provided with an numeric code to import the eConsult into your EMR using the following steps:

Manually navigate into the patient's chart in PS Suite. If the patient does not yet exist in the EMR, create a new stub chart.

You can then use the 'Import' button on the Ocean Toolbar to import the patient's eConsult using the provided numeric code. The patient's demographic fields will automatically update the chart when the consult is imported, and a new encounter note containing the consult summary will be generated.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.

When you accept a new eConsult, the referral information will be automatically imported as a new Active Task in the patient's chart with the matching healthcard number and date of birth in your Med Access EMR.
In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.
If no chart with a matching healthcard number and date of birth is found, Ocean will automatically generate a new chart and import the consult notes into it. The patient's demographic fields will also automatically update in the patient's chart.
Note: The 'Patient Status' field in new charts generated by Ocean will be set by default to 'Unconfirmed'. Ensure that you update the status to 'Active' (or your preferred status) after accepting the eConsult.

If Ocean automatically generated a new patient chart and the name of the referring provider already exists in your Med Access address book, the 'Referring Provider' chart field will also be updated with the referrer's name.

Note: Ocean matches the referring provider's information with the Med Access address book using First Name and Last Name.

If more than one provider exists in the Med Access address book with the same first and last name, Ocean uses the referrer's fax number to match with the correct provider.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, and fax number, Ocean will not update 'Referring Provider' field.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, but no matching fax number is found, Ocean will not update 'Referring Provider' field.

Ocean-MA Extension: Task Category and Type Adjustments

If you use the Ocean-MA Extension, it will automatically recognize upon opening the Task that it is related to an Ocean eConsult.
The extension will automatically adjust the Task 'Category' and 'Type' values to correspond with the Ocean eConsult.

After reviewing the changes and making any other necessary adjustments to the Task, click 'Save'. The Task will be automatically categorized into the 'Active Requests' section of the corresponding 'Consults ' or 'Investigations' area of the patient chart.

When you accept a new eConsult, the referral note will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in Accuro with the matching healthcard number and date of birth.
Depending on your Cloud Connect configuration, the consult note will either appear as an Encounter Note or a Document.

Note: It is recommended that your Cloud Connect settings are configured to save sent and received eReferrals and eConsults as Documents to ensure that any file attachments are automatically imported into Accuro.

By default, the Document Provider will be 'Unassigned'. However, automatic Document Provider assignment can optionally be enabled in your Cloud Connect settings.

If no chart with a matching healthcard number and date of birth is found, Ocean will automatically generate a new chart and import the consult notes into it. The patient's demographic fields will also automatically update in the patient's chart.

If Ocean automatically generated a new patient chart and the name of the referring provider already exists in your Accuro address book, the 'Referring Phys' chart field will also be updated with the referrer's name.

Note: Ocean matches the referring provider's information with the Accuro address book using First Name and Last Name.

If more than one provider exists in the Accuro address book with the same first and last name, Ocean uses the referrer's fax number to match with the correct provider.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, and fax number, Ocean will not update 'Referring Phys' field.

If multiple providers have the same first name, last name, but no matching fax number is found, Ocean will not update 'Referring Phys' field.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.

When you accept a new eConsult, the consult note will be automatically imported into the patient's chart in OSCAR Pro with the matching healthcard number and date of birth.

The consult note is imported in PDF format into the 'Documents' area of the chart.

If no chart with a matching healthcard number and date of birth is found, Ocean will automatically generate a new chart and import the consult notes into it. The patient's demographic fields will also automatically update in the patient's chart.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.

If you use a non-integrated EMR, you can download the eConsult after accepting it and manually upload it into your EMR as a PDF.

Tip: You can download a copy of the eConsult record at any time.

In Ocean, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Accepted as eConsult' status folder.

If declining an eConsult, you will be prompted to enter a reason for the declination, with the option to provide an additional message for the declination email notifications.

A message will also appear to inform you of the stakeholder that the eConsult will be returned to.

If the patient consented to email notifications, you can additionally choose whether or not the patient should also receive the declination email notification.

The eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Declined' status folder.

Providing Consultation Advice

Learn how to respond to an eConsult with consultation advice using the Messaging functionality.

Once you have accepted an eConsult, your next step will be to review the details of the consult and provide advice accordingly.

How do I provide consultation advice?

Within the 'Messaging' area, simply select the appropriate message recipient using the 'To:' dropdown (if multiple stakeholders are involved in the eConsult), type your message into the text box and optionally add an attachment.

Tip: For increased efficiency, you can also create canned responses for your Ocean Site that are easily selectable using the speech bubble icon.

Ensure the box next to 'Respond as an eConsult' is checked.

Select an accurate timespan from the 'Billing time' dropdown for tracking purposes. Click 'Send'.
Once you have sent your consultation advice, select 'Close'.

The eConsult will now shift into the 'eConsult in Progress' status folder.
The sender of the eConsult will receive an email notification that you have provided consultation advice.

Note: All messages within an eConsult are visible to all involved stakeholders.

Additional Message Functionalities

Once a message has been sent, additional functionalities can be accessed by clicking clicking on the message header.
Note: The 'Amend' and 'Delete' options are only available to the user who sent the message.

Download Addendum Letter: Downloads a PDF document containing basic eConsult information and the selected message.
Amend: Copies the selected message into the new message text field, to allow for additional information to be added.
Delete: Deletes the message.

View Responses to Consultation Advice

Learn how a sender can respond to the consultation advice you have provided.

After you have responded to an eConsult with your consultation advice, the sender can take action in a few different ways:

Sender Follows Up with Additional Information

The sender may review your consultation advice and follow up with additional questions or information.
These can be reviewed in the 'Messaging' area of the eConsult, where you can respond. Correspondence with the sender can continue as long as necessary.

If a sender follows up with additional information, the eConsult will remain in the 'eConsult in Progress' status folder. It will also be found in the 'Needs Review' status folder.

Any messages that have not been reviewed will be indicated by a yellow exclamation icon. To acknowledge that messages from the sender have been seen, mark the eConsult as 'Reviewed & Close'. The eConsult will then be removed from the 'Needs Review' folder.

Sender Changes the eConsult to an eReferral

At any time during the lifecycle of an eConsult, the sender can choose to change the eConsult to an eReferral.
If an eConsult is changed to an eReferral by the sender, it will be found in the 'Needs Review' and 'New' status folders in the Ocean Portal.

Follow the steps in this guide to take action.

Sender Requests to Proceed with eReferral

If the sender has reviewed your consultation advice and feels that a referral is necessary, they can request that you proceed with a eReferral for the patient.
In this case, the eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Needs Review' and 'New' status folders in the Ocean Portal.

In the 'Messaging' area of the eConsult, you will find a message containing a request to proceed with an eReferral, along with the reasoning for this request.

Follow the steps in this guide to move forward with an eReferral.

Sender Completes eConsult

If the sender has reviewed your consultation advice and is satisfied with your exchange, they can choose to mark the eConsult as completed.

The eConsult will be automatically moved to the 'Needs Review' and 'Completed' status folders.

Open the eConsult and select 'Reviewed & Close' to acknowledge that you have reviewed the completed eConsult.

The eConsult will then move out of the 'Needs Review' status folder.

Note: Upon acknowledging the completed eConsult as reviewed by selecting 'Reviewed & Close', a final copy of the eConsult record will be automatically downloaded into the patient's chart in your EMR. This applies to Med Access, Accuro, or OSCAR Pro users.

For other EMRs, you can manually download a final copy of the referral/consult record.

Mark a Completed eConsult as Incomplete

If you believe that the eConsult is not yet complete, you can select 'Mark Incomplete' to continue the exchange with the sender.

The eConsult will automatically move to the 'eConsult in Progress' status folder for both parties. You can then continue communicating with the sender until they mark the eConsult as completed.