Mixed Provider Contexts
Prescribers who work where the Connect Care clinical information system (CIS) is the record of care and also work in at least one setting where the CIS is not the record of care (inside or outside of AHS facilities supported by paper or electronic medical records) are said to be working in a "mixed context". These mixed-context prescribers need to manage some unique information flows that may relate to clinical documentation, communication and results delivery.
Communication
As soon as a prescriber gains access to the Connect Care CIS, that prescriber has an active "In Basket" and secure messaging presence. Any other Connect Care user can look up a prescriber for purposes of communication. The Connect Care provider directory reflects all Alberta providers. Attempts to send an In Basket or secure chat communication are blocked for providers who do not have Connect Care accounts. Consequently, any Connect Care prescriber, even those who do a minority of their work where Connect Care is the record of care, must make provisions for monitoring Connect Care clinical communications.
The safest approach for mixed-context prescribers is to regularly log in to Connect Care for the purpose of checking communications (In Basket and secure chat). It is also possible to enable Connect Care communication options for short or longer periods when it may not be possible or practical to regularly check Connect Care.
In Basket
Personalize In Basket to send email alerts whenever new content arrives.
Change In Basket status to "Out of Contact" and set delegate providers to forward tasks to for a defined period.
Arrange for one's In Basket activity to "Attach" to another provider, so that by "granting access", the other provider receives copies of tasks sent to the first provider's In Basket.
Arrange for one's In Basket activity to "Copy" to an In Basket messaging pool, as might be monitored by clinical support staff.
Secure Chat
Change one's "Status" to "Busy" or "Unavailable" for a defined time period.
Set all secure chat messages to "Auto Forward" to a different user's secure chat functions for a defined time period.
Note that, while a physician working in a mixed context may be added to a patient’s care team in Connect Care as a Primary Care Provider (PCP) for a patient receiving services with AHS, their role as PCP is related to the community clinic. Patient messages sent via MyAHS Connect in this case would not be related to their care with AHS nor to the work the physician does in AHS. As there are no pools or structure to support these messages, the messages are routed to an IT team error pool instead of to the intended physician. After confirming that the intended recipient does not have a department that schedules appointments in Connect Care and therefore does not have a clinical support advice request pool to support message management. IT will then respond to the patient, letting them know their physician cannot be reached via MyAHS Connect, and to instead contact the community clinic directly.
Documentation
Results and Reports Routing
Regardless of where a patient is seen (Connect Care or non-Connect Care context), some test results or reports must route to the In Basket. This applies to all Connect Care users, including those who work in mixed contexts. This lowers the risk of a privacy breach and allows reports to be correctly routed to the correct provider, particularly when the report does not contain specific information about where the result or report should route to.
Most often, the In Basket result is a copy of information routed to a prescriber's preferred external electronic medical record (EMR). In some cases, the In Basket result will not additionally route via mail, fax or eDelivery (independent EMRs appropriately configured). In almost all cases, the information is copied to the Alberta Netcare Portal.
Specific result routing pathways can change over time, as Connect Care continues its deployment throughout Alberta - another reason for Connect Care prescribers to make provisions for In Basket monitoring.