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OutSmart Guide

Providing Patients Access To Their Medical Records

Patients view their medical data online through the Patient Portal. The way you give them that access is by sending a Medical Records Access Link — a button in an email that takes the patient straight to setting up, or unlocking, their portal account.

Behind that link is a short access code, but the patient never needs to see it or type it: the link carries it automatically. Always send the link. It is the simplest, most reliable path for the patient, and it avoids the mix-ups described further down.

  • Open the Patient Workspace for the patient.
  • Click the Medical Access Code tab.
  • Click Request Access Code to generate the access.
  • Click the envelope icon next to it and choose Send Access Link.
  • Confirm the patient’s email address is correct before sending.

Generate the access from the Medical Access Code tab

Send the Medical Records Access Link by email

The link expires after 5 days. If the patient hasn’t used it, check that they received the email before sending a new one.

What the access link does — and what the code is

Knowing what’s happening behind the link makes it quick to help a patient who gets stuck.

  • The link is how a new patient gets in the first time. Clicking it opens the registration page with their access code already filled in. The patient sets their own password there — and that password, not the code, is what they use to log in from then on.
  • The access code is not a password. It only confirms the link is genuine. Patients don’t enter it anywhere themselves when they use the link.
  • Once a patient has an account, they never need an access code again. They log in with their email and the password they chose. A patient who set up an account when they booked online already has a portal account — the online-booking login is the portal login — so they don’t need a link to get in. You’d only send a link to give them full access to records you’ve added.

Clearing up the common mix-ups

A few situations come up often. Each one is quick to resolve:

  • “It’s asking for a password and I only have a code.” The code is not the password. A new patient creates a password on the registration page (reached by clicking the email link). A patient who already has an account logs in with the password they set earlier — no code needed.
  • “There’s a code already filled in — is that an example?” No. When a patient opens the registration page from their email link, the words already in the access-code field are their code. They should leave it as-is and continue.
  • “I don’t have an access code.” This happens when the portal website is opened directly instead of through the email link. The access-code field is then empty and the patient can’t finish. The fix: go back to the email and click the blue button. The code only fills in automatically when the patient arrives through that link.

Security

Medical Records Access Links open a patient’s medical data, so a link sent to the wrong person is a privacy issue.

To revoke access:

  • Open the Patient Workspace.
  • Click the Medical Access Code tab.
  • If a portal account or active code is listed, click Revoke Access.

Revoke access that is no longer needed, or was sent incorrectly

If a patient would rather not receive the link by email, you can print the access code and hand it to them in person instead. This is a more involved fallback — emailing the link is almost always easier for everyone.