If a patient requests that you keep their medical records confidential from all or some of your clinic members, you can specify who can access the patient's chart. By default, patient charts are visible to all users.

In an emergency, restricted users who have the Patient Chart/Encounter Accessibility Controls permission can still view private charts, but they must state the reason for the override. This entry is saved in the patient's chart, with a red icon within the Recent Activity section, making it easy to see from the patient dashboard if someone "broke the glass" (see Reviewing recent activity). Users who do not have this permission cannot break the glass, even in an emergency situation.

You can also restrict access to only specific encounter notes (see Restricting access to specific encounter notes).

1. Open the patient chart.

2. Click the patient avatar to open the patient dashboard, and in the patient header, click Update Information.

3. In the Update Patient window, click the Accessibility tab.

4. Select the user(s) who can access the chart and click Save.

If a user does not have the Patient Chart/Encounter Accessibility Controls permission, when they try to access a restricted chart the following message appears, and they cannot open the chart.

If a user with the Patient Chart/Encounter Accessibility Controls permission attempts to access a restricted patient chart, they can enter a reason for accessing the chart and "break the glass" to open the chart. For more information, refer to Gaining access to a restricted patient chart.