Context: Patients who have activated MyAHS Connect are able to securely communicate with healthcare providers via Connect Care. This does not mean that they can initiate communication with any provider. Four tests determine whether a patient is able to send a message to a Connect Care clinician:
- Recipient - If a provider initiates a secure patient message to an individual active on MyAHS Connect, that patient will be able to respond to the sending provider.
- PCP - If the patient's primary care provider (PCP) uses Connect Care as their record of primary care services, then that provider can be messaged directly (if so configured by the provider) or via a clinic-managed message pool.
- Consultant - If the patient has been seen by a consulting (specialist) clinician within the prior 90 days in a facility where Connect Care is the record of care, then the patient can send a message to the clinician (if configured to accept personal-direct messages) and/or the clinic patient message pool.
- Clinic - If the patient's clinic (primary care or specialty) has a patient message pool configured, and the patient was seen in that clinic within the last 90 days, then appointment request and some other message types can be initiated with the clinic via its managed message pool.
- Outpatient clinic messaging protocol - Work with clinic colleagues to confirm an agreement respecting whether the clinic maintains an incoming patient message screening process and ensure that the responsible support staff know that the particular provider does not accept patient messages.
- Patient-provider relationship - If a provider will not participate in any ongoing care of the patient, or will not offer any further post-visit communications, then the "Care Team" activity can be opened in Connect Care and the provider can "end" any existing primary or specialty care relationship, thus removing the provider from communication availability.
- Direct communication - Clinicians can always respond (or have their messaging pool respond) to a patient message with a request to not use MyAHS Connect for communications with a particular provider.