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 Force access on a Patient Chart 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 "forced access" (refer to Reviewing recent activity). Users who do not have this permission cannot force access, even in an emergency situation.
When you restrict access to a chart, you are designated as the owner. This is indicated by an asterisk beside your name in the User access tab.
📌 Note: If a user gains access to a restricted patient chart, the owner of the restriction receives an automated inbox message. This notification includes the user who forced access, the timing of the access, the reason for it, and a link to the restricted patient chart.
You can also restrict access to only specific encounter notes (refer to Restricting access to specific encounter notes).
📌 Note: You must have the Restrict access to a Patient Chart permission.
Steps
1. Open the patient chart.
2. From the Dashboard view of the chart, click Update Information.
3. In the Update Patient window, click the User access tab.
📌 Note: If you do not have the Restrict access to a Patient Chart permission, the User access tab is greyed out.
4. Choose the type of access you want to configure for this chart.
Field | Description |
All users | All users who can access patient records are allowed to access this chart. |
Only me | Only you can access this chart. |
Custom | Only certain groups and/or specific users can access this chart.
Select the checkbox beside a group name to allow users in that group to access the chart.
Click Show all groups to see all groups in your domain.
Select + User and chose a user from the list to provide access to specific users.
📌 Note: When you restrict access to a chart, you are designated as the owner. This is indicated by an asterisk beside your name.
To remove access granted to an individual user, select the trash can icon to the right of their name. |
5. Click Save.
Users who do not have access to the chart see a Permission denied message when they try to open the chart. If they have permission to Force access on a Patient Chart permission, they can enter a reason and access the chart. For more information, refer to Gaining access to a restricted patient chart.
📌 Note: Restriction owners cannot remove themselves from the user access list. Similarly, another user cannot remove the owner of the restriction.
Updated June 12, 2024