Prior to configuring additional addresses for your organization, please read the following IMPORTANT information about the use of addresses.
Addresses are like email addresses and also serve as Direct addresses, but are used only in healthcare, and are used for sending and receiving information to and from your organization to external organizations. Unlike a typical email address, an address can be assigned at different levels that represents one of the following (see examples following each type):
Provider: drjohndoe@organization.direct.xxxxx.com
Department: HIM@organization.direct.xxxxx.com
Workflow: labs@organization.direct.xxxxx.com
Group of Individuals: nurses@organization.direct.xxxxx.com
An Address should not be representative of an individual other than a provider. If only one person works in a department, it is recommended to create the Address with the department name instead, and then assign user send permissions for that Address.
Addresses can be created for various methods and ways that you receive and send documentation within your organization today. Please see examples below for further understanding. Three considerations should be given when creating a address:
Every address created will be uploaded to the National Provider Directory as a standard Direct address and is subsequently visible for lookup and submission to by external organizations. The address should be meaningful to external senders of information.
Caution should be exercised before assigning addresses to every user account. Addresses should be used to optimally route information to and from your organization.
Once an address is set up, additional rules are applied to allow for routing to one or many users internally (for inbound) or for users that have privileges to send on behalf of (for outbound), thus individual accounts are not necessary.
Example One
Receiving Documents - Good Health Long Term Care facility currently receives all intake information for new patients/residents being admitted through a single fax number. The fax number is managed by the intake coordinator. Any clinical information received after a patient is admitted is received and distributed through a fax number managed by the nurses on shift.
Sending Documents - Record requests for additional information from external organizations and transfers of care to the hospital or other provider are handled by faxing the request from the medical records department or the fax machine managed by the nurses on shift.
Setting up Addresses - Based upon the above information, Good Health determines they need to set up the following addresses for sending and receiving:
Example Two
Receiving Documents - Caring Cardiology is a single provider cardiology practice and currently receives all documentation through a single fax number. Documents received on the fax number are reviewed by the front desk staff or the nurse. The documentation is reviewed and either scanned back to the patient chart or placed in the physician's inbox for approval and later scanned.
Sending Documents - Record requests, consultations, and other referrals are printed from the EMR and faxed from the front office fax machine. Faxing is typically performed by the front office staff, but may occasionally be performed by the nurse or physician.
Setting up Addresses - Based upon the above information, Caring Cardiology determines they need to setup the following addresses for sending and receiving:
In the future, Caring Cardiology may add an address for the physician, but he is currently concerned about managing the receipt of unnecessary documentation given current workloads and would prefer an initial review by the nurse or front office staff.
Creating an Address
Upon activation of your organization, an Address of records@your organization.direct.xxxxx.com will be automatically created for you. This address may be edited or deleted if desired.
To add additional addresses for your instance, select the settings gear in the upper right-hand corner. Under Document Sources, select Addresses from the list displayed. To add an address and assign sending privileges:
Select the “+” sign located in the upper right-hand corner. The setup window will appear.
Address Type
Specify if this address is for the Organization (default), or choose Provider if the address is for a healthcare provider in your organization
If the Address Type is set to Provider, the provider’s NPI will be required.
Nickname Specify the primary purpose or function of this address. This will help outside providers know which address to select when searching for your organization in the National Provider Directory. This field is optional.
Address
Enter the desired prefix for the Direct address. The remaining part of the address (after the @ symbol) is preconfigured in the Domain field. Note: the prefix should not be your organization's fax number.
As your FIRST address (and possibly Direct address), records will be automatically added for you upon activation of your instance. This will generate a address of: records@organization.direct.xxxxx.com, which will also be submitted to the National Provider Address book.
Send Permissions (allows users to send messages from this address)
Select Global Rule (applies to all users) to grant all users permission to send from the address. Once set for an address, all newly added users will automatically be included in the rule permissions.
Select Specify a list of users to grant specific users permission send from the address.
Select Save Changes and the address will appear in the list below in alphabetical order.
Complete Steps 1-6 for all addresses.
