Patient Chart Guide- Limiting access to patient charts based on patient criteria (Premium)

Contents

• What is the Patient Cohort feature?
• Why is the Patient Cohort feature valuable?
• How do I turn on the Patient Cohort feature?
• Creating new Patient Cohorts and assigning User Groups
• Managing existing Patient Cohorts
• Viewing Cohort Criteria
• Deleting a Patient Cohort
  • Accessing patient charts that are part of Patient Cohorts
  • Viewing the Unauthorized Access Log
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

 

What is the Patient Cohort feature?

The Patient Cohort feature is a Premium EHR feature. Admin Level Users can group patients into cohorts based on data in the patient’s chart and then limit access to these Patient Cohorts to specific users. Users who do not have access to the Patient Cohort will be required to log their reason for requesting access to a restricted chart. Reporting is also available for monitoring unauthorized access to Patient Cohorts. 

Patient Cohorts can be created based on the following criteria in the patient’s chart:

• Provider assigned in practice
• Patient Passport Status
• Sex at Birth
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Preferred Language
• Preferred Contact Method
• Patient Status
• State
• Patient Tags
• Document Tags
• Employer (for practices who have Employers associated with their account)

 

Why is the Patient Cohort feature valuable?

The Patient Cohort feature for Premium EHR users allows Admin Level Users to restrict access to certain charts based on criteria in the patient’s chart. Users who do not have access to a cohort must log their reason for accessing a restricted chart. This allows practices to limit access to patient data based on roles and responsibilities amongst the various team members. Some common use cases include, but are not limited to:

• Restricting all Staff Level Users from accessing any patient chart data
• Limiting patient chart access to only the provider and staff responsible for the patient

 

How do I turn on the Patient Cohort feature?

Once Elation turns this feature on, proceed to the Creating new Patient Cohorts and assigning User Groups section below for instructions on how to create your first Patient Cohort.

 

Creating new Patient Cohorts and assigning User Groups

To create a Patient Cohort:

1. Any Admin Level User in the practice can click “Reports” in the blue navigation bar at the top of their Elation account and then click “Patient Cohorts”.

2. Click “Create a Patient Cohort” to begin cohort creation.
3. Apply the necessary filters for the cohort. A minimum of one patient criteria must be selected in order to create a cohort.
4. Click “Preview List” to see the patients that meet the selected criteria.
5. Click “Save as Patient Cohort” once you have verified the list of patients is accurate.

6. Enter a name for your Patient Cohort in the Patient Cohort Name field. We recommend using a descriptive name to distinguish multiple cohorts. 
7. Click “+ Add User Group” to select the User Groups that are allowed to have access to the patients in this cohort. If no user groups are added, the cohort can still be created, but no access limits will be applied. 
   • Click here to learn more about creating User Groups.

8. Click “Save” to save the new Patient Cohort.
9. Patients will automatically be added to the Patient Cohort if they meet the cohort criteria after the Patient Cohort is created.

   

Managing existing Patient Cohorts

Viewing Cohort Criteria

Once a cohort is created, click the “Actions” button to the right of the Patient Cohort Name and click “Cohort Criteria” to view the cohort criteria. You cannot edit the criteria or User Groups of existing Patient Cohorts. If the criteria or assigned User Groups needs to be updated, create a new Patient Cohort with the updated criteria and/or User Groups, and then delete the outdated version of that Patient Cohort. 


 

Deleting a Patient Cohort

Deleting a Patient Cohort will remove the access restrictions set for the patients in the cohort. To delete a Patient Cohort

1. Click the “Actions” button to the right of the Patient Cohort Name.
2. Click “Delete” and then confirm by pressing “Delete” to delete the Patient Cohort.

 

Accessing patient charts that are part of Patient Cohorts

Once a Patient Cohort is created

• any time a user tries to access a chart they are authorized to access, they will not notice any restrictions when viewing the chart
• any time a user tries to access a chart they are not authorized to access, they will see an ‘Access Restricted’ warning
  • If the unauthorized user wants to proceed with accessing the restricted chart, they must select a reason in order to gain access to the restricted chart. The user can provide more context for their access in the Additional Details section. If the reason selected is “Other” additional details will be required. 

• Admin Level Users will have access to a report for monitoring unauthorized access to restricted charts.

 

Viewing the Unauthorized Access Log

Admin Level Users will have access to a report for monitoring unauthorized access to restricted charts. To view the Unauthorized Access Log: 

1. Any Admin Level User in the practice can click “Reports” in the blue navigation bar at the top of their Elation account and then click “Patient Cohorts”
2. Click “Unauthorized Access Log” at the top of the Patient Cohorts dashboard
3. Select the date range you want to view
   • User Tip: You can only search for a maximum of 90 days at a time. If the date range you are searching for exceeds 90 days, separate the dates into ‘90 day’ segments and run multiple reports. For example, if you want to look at a report for January 1st to May 31st, you will need to run one report from January 1st to March 31st and then a second report from April 1st to May 31st.
4. Click “Download CSV”
5. Open the file using a spreadsheet compatible software like Google© Sheets or Excel©. 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if a patient no longer meets the defined criteria of a Patient Cohort?

When a patient in a Patient Cohort no longer meets the defined criteria, that patient will automatically be removed from the Patient Cohort.

 

How do I edit cohort rules or user group access for an existing Patient Cohort? 

Patient Cohorts currently cannot be modified after they are created. If cohort criteria or User Groups need to be changed, delete the Patient Cohort and recreate it with the updated criteria and/or User Groups.


 

How is the Patient Cohort feature different from the VIP Chart feature?

The Patient Cohort feature restricts access to specific User Groups that are designated by an Admin Level User in the practice. The VIP Chart feature restricts access across all users in the practice besides the Provider assigned in practice. 

 

What happens if I am using both the Patient Cohort feature and the VIP Chart feature?

If you are using both the Patient Cohort feature and the VIP Chart feature, both features will be in effect. This means when a user is trying to access an unauthorized chart that is also a VIP patient, they will see both the Unauthorized Access warning as well as the VIP Chart warning.


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