Patient Portal: Policies and Procedures & User Reference Guide

Transcription

1 Patient Portal: Policies and Procedures & User Reference Guide NextMD/Patient Portal Version 5.6 Page 1 of MR 10/01/11

2 Welcome to the NextMD Patient Portal We would like to welcome you to the NextMD Patient Portal. The Patient Portal is a secure webbased healthcare application that enables you to communicate with your health care providers and connects you directly to your Electronic Health Record (EHR). The patient portal is simply an alternate way of communicating with your health care providers and their support staff. Currently, the NextMD Patient Portal allows patients conveniently, safely and securely to: Ask questions Receive results and other documents Refill prescriptions Request appointments The Policies and Procedures section of this document outlines the terms of use of the Patient Portal. The User Reference Guide section provides step-by-step instructions to complete your enrollment and utilize these features. If you have any additional questions, please contact the practice for assistance. Page 2 of MR 10/01/11

3 Policies and Procedures Prior to enrolling in the Patient Portal, it is important that you are familiar with and agree to the following terms of use. Access to the Patient Portal is optional; we may suspend or terminate use at any time and for any reason. If terminated, you will be notified within five (5) business days. This method of communication prevents unauthorized parties from being able to access or read messages while they are in transmission. Maintaining the security of the message however depends on ensuring the message is sent to the intended recipient and that only an authorized person accesses the message once received. As the patient, you are responsible for ensuring your practice(s) has your current and correct address for appropriate receipt of the message and that you maintain the security of your password to prevent an unauthorized person from accessing your information once received. Use of the Patient Portal is for non-emergent communication and requests only; in the case of an emergency, call or go to the nearest emergency room, and allow up to two business days for a response to your communications/requests. Do not use the Patient Portal for the exchange of information regarding highly sensitive medical issues (examples include but are not limited to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and mental health issues). Ensure you notify your practice(s) of any changes in contact information (name, address, phone number(s) or address). All communication via the Patient Portal will become part of your permanent Electronic Health Record (EHR) or medical record. Any staff member in the practice may respond to your communication via the Patient Portal as appropriate for the scope of their normal duties and responsibilities. Page 3 of MR 10/01/11

4 Enrolling in NextMD/Patient Portal User Reference Guide Your practice must first enroll you in the Patient Portal application and provide you with an eight-digit token number. You will need this token number to initiate your enrollment. An with a link to the Portal website will be sent to the address that you provided to the practice. If you have a filter for junk mail, please monitor your junk folder for NextMD s you may need to add NextMD.com to your contact list or safe list. Please note that the token number is only valid for 30 days; if you do not enroll within this time period, you must contact your practice to request a new token number. To enroll in the Portal, please complete the following steps: Open the "Welcome to NextMD!" sent by your practice and click the Click here to go to NextMD button. You will see the following screen: After you click the above link, the Enrollment page will appear. Click on the Enroll Now button to begin the enrollment process. Page 4 of MR 10/01/11

5 Next, the Enrollment page will display the Terms and Conditions for using the NextMD website. Read the Terms and Conditions and click the I Accept button to continue with the enrollment process. Page 5 of MR 10/01/11

6 Next, enter your security token number (without dashes) and your address in the applicable fields and then click the Submit button. Page 6 of MR 10/01/11

7 The Enrollment page will display the Create Enrollment Credentials section. Follow the steps below to complete this section. Page 7 of MR 10/01/11

8 1. Create your Username and Password. Enter the user name and password you will use to log into NextMD in the fields provided. The user name must be between six (6) and 20 characters in length. The password must be between six (6) and 20 characters in length and contain at least one number. Note: As you type your password, a password strength indicator will display. Use mixed case letters, numbers and punctuation characters to increase the password strength. Note: We recommend that you change your password every six months. Page 8 of MR 10/01/11

9 2. Create your login security authorization. Select a security question and your answer in the fields provided. 3. Create your password recovery credentials. Enter a forgotten password question and answer in the fields provided and then click the Submit button. Note: The Answer field cannot contain any spaces. If the answer to your question is two or three words, the system does not allow spaces. For example, Boston Red Sox should be typed as BostonRedSox. When finished, click the Submit button to complete the enrollment process and display the Home page. The system will send you a confirmation notifying you that you have successfully completed the enrollment process and to provide you with a link to NextMD. Note: For easy access, we encourage you to access NextMD through your practice s website. You will find the link the portal in the top navigation bar of your practice s website. Alternatively, you may access NextMD directly via the NextMD link provided in the enrollment confirmation . We recommend you add your practice s website or the NextMD website to your list of Favorites per the following instructions. From Internet Explorer, click on Favorites and then Add to Favorites. Page 9 of MR 10/01/11

10 Internet Security Here are some suggestions to help protect your privacy and keep your information secure. Choose a password that is easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess. Passwords are case sensitive, must be between six (6) and 20 characters and should include both numbers and characters. If you use a public or shared computer, it's important that you always sign out completely at the end of each session by clicking the Sign Out link. Doing this eliminates the possibility that another person could use the same computer to view the contents of your account. Where possible, delete the Web browser's cache and cookies. The cache maintains a copy of web pages that have been viewed recently. Computers are vulnerable to viruses and online attacks that seek to intercept sensitive information provided through the Internet and therefore, your computer should have an up todate anti-virus program and make use of a firewall. You should not leave your computer unattended while logged in. If you have to leave your computer, log out of all programs and close all windows that might display sensitive information. The Patient Portal automatically logs you out if there has been no online activity for 20 minutes. Logging In to Your NextMD Web Account To log in to your NextMD Web account, either access your practice s website and click the Patient Portal link in the top navigation bar or access the NextMD website via the following link: You may also access either website via your Favorites if you have added them per the instructions above. The My Healthy Login page displays when you have successfully completed the enrollment process. Enter your User Name and Password in the applicable fields and click Log In. Both the User Name and Password are case sensitive. Note: If you enter an incorrect password four times, the system will lock your account. However, the system automatically will unlock your account after 20 minutes. Page 10 of MR 10/01/11

11 After you have entered your User Name and Password, click the Log in button. Enter the requested security information in the Answer Your Security Question field and then click the Submit button. Page 11 of MR 10/01/11

12 The My Home page will display. My Home Tab This section displays a folder of incoming mail items sent by your practice. Use the links on the left side of the page to navigate through the NextMD website. Note: Any time a practice responds to a request or an , uploads a document or forms to your NextMD account, sends an appointment request, secure message or medication renewal or uploads a document, a notification will be sent to your address informing you that an item has been uploaded to your home page. My Inbox Tab Click on your Inbox tab to view new and old messages pertaining to appointments, medications, documents and secure messages. Here is where you can manage your incoming . To open a message, click once on the mail item in order to view, reply, print or delete the message. Page 12 of MR 10/01/11

13 My Sent Items Tab Click on your Sent Items tab to view s you ve sent to the provider s practice. Here is where you can manage your sent . To open a message, click once on the mail item in order to view, reply, print or delete the message. My Account Tab Account Settings Click on your Account Settings tab to view your NextMD profile. This section allows you to update your user name, password, security question and forgot password question. My Information The My Account section enables you to view your address, address and primary phone number. Note: The current version of NextMD does allow you to edit address, and phone information, but it does not alert your provider s practice. If you make any changes to this information, please send a secure message or call the practice. Manage Practices This feature is not currently used. Manage User Grants This feature is used to delegate account access to the Alternate Contact identified on your Registration Form (if you elected to do so) and/or dependents. With NextMD, your practice can set up relationships that allow you (care manager) to have full or partial access of another s user s account (dependent) or allow another user to have full or partial access of your account. For example, a husband may grant his wife permissions to request appointments or a son can allow a mother to renew medications. If you wish to use this feature, complete this portion of the Consent Form. Please note that the person you select must be the same person as the Alternate Contact identified on your Patient Registration Form. Page 13 of MR 10/01/11

14 Sending Secure Messages Under Tasks, click the Compose Message link to send a message to your provider s practice. Page 14 of MR 10/01/11

15 Enter the following required fields: Practice: Category: To: Subject : Message: Your message will be routed to the provider you enter in the To: field. Select the applicable type of question from the drop down list. Select the appropriate provider you wish to send your question to from the drop down list. Add a subject to your message. Type your question using specific information. To send message, click the Submit button. The message will be sent and you will see on screen Your message has been successfully sent. Page 15 of MR 10/01/11

16 If the provider s practice replies to your message by you will see the following in your Inbox: Single click on the message to view the content of the message. You can reply, delete or print the message. Page 16 of MR 10/01/11

17 Renewing Medications To renew on-going medications, under Tasks, click on the renew medications link from the left navigation tool bar. 1. Select The Practice: Wentworth Douglass Physician Corporation will automatically default to this field. No action is required on your part. 2. Select Medications: Click on the Select button to view your list of active medications on file at your provider s practice. You also have the capability to check a checkbox to view inactive available medications that your provider may have prescribed for you in the past. Click the checkbox next to the medication you wish to renew. Click the Submit button. Page 17 of MR 10/01/11

18 3. Select Pharmacy: In the Pharmacy Search field, type a few letters of the pharmacy name and click Search. Confirm the address and phone information. Select the correct pharmacy by clicking the button. Use the checkbox to set this pharmacy as your NextMD preferred pharmacy. This setting will save to your medication renewal page. Click the Submit button. Page 18 of MR 10/01/11

19 Once all of the the required information has been entered, click the Submit button to send the request to your provider s practice. You will see a message on screen Your medication renewal request has been successfully submitted. Note: The next time you click on the Renew Medication, for your convenience the system will have saved your previous medications renewal requests, as well as your Pharmacy, Reason and Sent To: Page 19 of MR 10/01/11

20 information. To modify any of these, click on the Change button. If you would like medications sent to two different pharmacies, please note this information in the Comments section. If the practice responds by you will receive a message in your Inbox as follows: Single click on the message to view the response. Requesting Appointment Under Tasks, click on the Request Appointment link to send an appointment request to your provider s practice. An Appointment Request form will display: Page 20 of MR 10/01/11

21 After clicking the Submit button, you will receive the message Your appointment request has been successfully submitted. Important: Your provider s practice will either call you or reply by to your request. The message will appear in your Inbox as either Pending or Booked: Page 21 of MR 10/01/11

22 Pending Appointment Message If you receive a Pending message, a reply is required. Single-click on the message to view the proposed appointment information. The following window will appear: Accept: Select this option to confirm and book the proposed appointment. New: Select this option to send a new appointment request message. Cancel Appt Request: Select this option to cancel the proposed appointment. Delete: Select this option to delete the message out of your Inbox. This is not recommended if you intend to send a reply. Page 22 of MR 10/01/11

23 Booked Appointment Message If you receive a Booked Appointment Message, the practice has booked the appointment and the appointment can be viewed. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to the scheduled visit for check-in and rooming. You have the ability to cancel the appointment if necessary. Important: It s highly recommended that you call the office to cancel your same day appointments. Single-click on the message to view the appointment message. The following box will appear: Research Center This section provides some helpful reference links. Page 23 of MR 10/01/11