There are lots of developments and changes happening within EMIS Web that are changes that are being introduced in advance of opening up patient access to GP records.
Overall, patient access to medical records is something that we should be encouraging and supporting, but it needs to be done with adequate safeguards in place.
Here, I have discussed a recent EMIS change that changes the way that online access visibility is managed within EMIS Web.
Within EMIS Web, confidentiality polices were a feature that allowed practices to set a flag against an item in the clinical record that restricted access to records for certain categories of staff as well as for patients viewing data online. Further details on this here:
EMIS Web – Confidentiality policies in EMIS Web (emisnow.com)
With this confidentiality policy in place, training was put in to place for staff to understand how to apply this and to also be able to restrict sensitive information for patients accessing their record online.
There has now been a new release of EMIS that has been published – with a release data TBC – that applies from EMIS Web v9.18.8 whereby the rules are changing.
Further info here: EMIS Web – Online visibility (emisnow.com)
Essentially what this means is that from the release of EMIS Web v9.18.8, the confidentiality policy will no longer prospectively stop data to be hidden online. The “Online Visibility” option will need to be applied instead.
The existing confidentiality policies applied before this update will remain hidden however.
What this means for practices is that new staff training will need to be implemented to apply or remove online visibility from the GP record within EMIS Web. This will apply for entries entered in the care record and consultations but not any entries within the medication / prescribing screen.
It is also important to note that these online visibility settings are not part of the GP2GP transfer.
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