Sending notes to Netcare and other providers

Sharing notes to NetCare and other providers 

In Connect Care outpatient notes are, by default, progress note that do not leave the system. For the note to be shared to Netcare, and/or copied to other clinicians, an extra step is required. 

That is to use the Communication function to specify the note is to be shared as a letter and to select with whom to share the note. 

Steps to route note as a Consult Letter

1. After completing the note, click Accept,

2. In the This Visit activity tab, find find the Communications panel,

3. Click +New Communcation,

4. Select the recipint(s),

5. Use one of the available quick buttons that has Netcare in the title to select a communication template, The Consult Netcare letter template is suggested

6. Review the letter (optional),

7. Double check that default Send At Sign Visit is enabled, if desired can use Send Now to have the letter uploaded now.

Send Notes "Quick Click" 

Prescribers who document the content of an outpatient consultation in the encounter progress note can instantly mark that note for sharing using the Send Notes option that appears at the top of the Note sidebar panel.

• Selecting Send Notes replaces, with one click, the multiple steps outlined above. 

No PCP

Communications assume that there is a recipient, usually a primary care provider and/or referring provider. However, there may be situations when a letter should route to Netcare when no primary care or referring provider is specified. Any of the following actions will work when default recipients are not available:

Emergency Provider

• The patient may have been referred from an emergency encounter. The relevant emergency room prescriber can be entered as a "referring provider" before the communications activity is initiated. Communications can be routed to referring providers when there is no primary care provider.

Patient has no PCP

• Connect Care allows entering "Patient has no PCP" to as the recipient.

• "Patient has no PCP" can also be selected as a letter recipient even if not set as the patient's primary care provider. Use of a Netcare letter template will work but Connect Care will attempt a local print of the letter as well; avoidable by selecting "Print to PDF" and then not following through on the "save" part of the printing workflow.

Copy to self

• Letters can still be routed to Netcare without primary care or referring providers identified. One can copy the letter to oneself. The letter will go to Netcare and be copied to the Connect Care prescriber's In Basket.

External System Constraints

There are limits to what Netcare (and EMRs) can accept. Currently, documents are rendered to "pdf" format for external sharing and may not be accepted if the file size is too large.

Embedded Links

When viewed in an external system, the pdf document will not be part of the Connect Care record. Embedded links to Connect Care content will not work. Embedded links to Internet resources (hyperlinks) may not work in the receiving system.

Embedded Images

Avoid embedding images or other media that could increase the file size of shared documents. Image(s) are essential to clinical communication (e.g., rash), try to keep the image size small and do not embed more than 2 images.

Corrections and re-Writes

Once an outpatient letter goes to an external system it is not possible to edit and revise its contents. If necessary, the outpatient letter can be revoked (deleted) within the communications activity. This will send an appropriate message to Netcare. A new instance of the letter can then be created using an external systems template.