Secure Send

Secure Send uses email or ZedSMS to send invoices, referrals and documents to a patient or next-of-kin Account Payer using a link to a secure download page. For patient questions, see the Secure Send FAQ.

Considerations

  • Secure Send is a free feature. However, the SMS option requires ZedSMS and uses ZedSMS credits.
  • The email and SMS sent to the patient will show the practice name but not the practice email or phone number. 
  • Documents will be available in the Secure Send portal for seven days.
  • If multiple documents are sent within 15 minutes, one notification will be received to give access to all documents.
  • The pathology and radiology templates do not include laboratory contact details and require an Electronic signature.
  • Printing a document sent to a mobile phone may pose problems for some patients.

Security information

Documents are securely transmitted via HTTPS and stored in encrypted, Australia-based Amazon (AWS S3) cloud storage. They are automatically deleted seven days after being sent. To access the document, the patient receives an access pin using the same email or mobile number that sent the document link. 

Popular scenarios for Secure Send

  • Telehealth and video consultations.
  • In-patient consultations where electronic pathology and radiology referrals are preferred. 
  • In-patient consultations where invoices and documents need to be sent electronically to the patient.

Secure Send video guide

Requirements

Practice 
Secure Send is requested by submitting a  Secure Send request form. Zedmed will set up a branded download portal for your patients and will need access to your server to complete the setup. Upgrade to Zedmed v36.5 before submitting the request.

Practitioner 
An electronic signature must be set up in the practitioner's profile to use Secure Send for pathology and radiology referrals. If it is not, the referral will be sent without a signature. To learn more, see the Electronic signature guide.

Patient/payer 
The patient should have their email address and mobile number in their patient record to populate the Secure Send delivery fields. The patient or next of kin (NOK) Account Payer being sent the message should be set up as a payer in the patient's record. The default payer can be different, but the patient/NOK Account Payer must also be selectable. The patient name and email/SMS will be used if there is no Payer in the patient's record.

SMS 
SMS delivery requires ZedSMS and uses SMS credits. Without ZedSMS, Secure Send can only be delivered to email addresses. 

For Pathology and radiology referrals
To use Secure Send for laboratory referrals, Zedmed's 'PathologyZedmedRequestForm' or 'RadiologyZedmedRequestForm' templates are used because lab-specific templates rely on laboratory paper. 

 To use these templates, the practice will need to create a pathology addressee with the pathology template and a radiology addressee with the radiology template in the Clinical Address Book. Practitioners using these templates must set up their electronic signature so it can be added to the letters.

Sending referrals

Important: Zedmed created a Radiology and a Pathology template to support electronic signatures. To use these templates, the practitioner must have a signature file in their profile. The practice must also create a pathology addressee for the pathology template and a radiology addressee for the radiology template, and the practitioner should use these addresses when using Secure Send for a Pathology or Radiology referral.

To send a referral:

  1. Follow the standard pathology, radiology or referral letter  process.
  2. For radiology and pathology:

    1. Select an addressee that uses the "Zedmed Default" template.
    2. The Order Test button will add the referral to the Today's referral section.
  3. For referral letters:

    1. After selecting File > Distribute, review the Send to Patient section.
    2. Choose a Recipient email or recipient mobile.
    3. You can also use Distribute to send it electronically to the referral recipient with secure messaging.
    4. Select OK to add the referral letter to the Today's referral section.
  4. Select Secure Send.

    • The Secure Send button will open the Send screen for the referral in the Today's Referrals section.
    • Multiple referrals will open in the tab's order (Pathology, Radiology, Letter), not the order in which they are listed.
  5. Review the Send dialog.

    • The title will show the name of the referral being sent.
    • Select Recipient Email or Recipient Mobile, depending on the patient's preference.
      Additional recipients can be added using a comma between email addresses and mobile numbers.
      Caution - if an incorrect email or mobile number is used, the unintended recipient will be able to view any documents in the download portal.
    • Optional: Copy TO Mobile or Copy To Email fields.
      You can add recipients to the Copy fields if they have a valid email address or mobile in the Clinical Address Book.
      To remove a CC: use right-click > Remove.
      Note: This is different to the referrals Copy To field used when you want to notify a practitioner of the requested test.
      You can use the Address Book's HealthShare directory for email delivery, not for SMS.
    • Optional: Pin not required (v37 and later)
           Overrides the one-time security code requirement - the code sent to the patient to open the portal and access the sent files.
  6. Select Send.
    A message will display that includes the text 'Delivery successful'.
    The patient will receive a link to download the referral, which will be useable for 7 days, as explained in the section below.
    If a laboratory referral addressee does not have the pathology or radiology template, 'Template not found' will appear.

Sending letters 

Practitioners can send referral letters and documents, such as management plans and medical certificates, using Secure Send. 

To send a letter or document:

  1. Follow the normal process for a referral letter or a quick document.
  2. Select File > Distribute.
    The Print/Send screen will open with a section called Send to Patient.
    The patient's name will be shown, and the payer will be the patient or 'NOK Account Payer'. The notification will be sent to the payer.
  3. Select Recipient Email or Recipient Mobile, depending on the patient's preference.
  4. Optional: Copy TO Mobile or Copy To Email fields.
    To add additional recipients using these fields, they must be in the Clinical Address Book and have a valid email address or mobile number. To remove a CC, right-click > Remove.
    You can use the Address Book's HealthShare directory for email delivery but not for SMS.
  5.  Optional: Pin not required (v37 and later)
    Overrides the one-time security code requirement - the code sent to the patient to open the portal and access the sent files.
  6. Select OK.
    A message will display that includes the text 'Delivery successful'.

Sending invoices

A patient's invoices can be sent electronically to the patient if they are the payer. This is done in the New Invoice screen or later from the patient's Account Enquiry screen. 

Third-party payers can have their email or mobile number typed into the fields provided, and additional recipients can be added using a comma between email addresses and mobile numbers. This should be done with caution because if an incorrect email or mobile number is used, the unintended recipient can view any patient's documents in the download portal, including letters and referrals. 

To send an invoice:

  1. Follow the standard invoice creation process to create and fill in the new invoice.
  2. Select Send to Patient.
    The Send Invoice dialog will open.
    The patient's name will be shown, and the payer will be the patient or 'NOK Account Payer'. The notification will be sent to the payer.
    Note: If you select the down arrow by Send to Patient, you can access the original Email as Attachment option.
  3. Select Recipient Email or Recipient Mobile, depending on the patient's preference.
  4. Optional: Pin not required (v37 and later)
    Overrides the one-time security code requirement - the code sent to the patient to open the portal and access the sent files.
  5. Select Send.
    A delivery success or failure notification will display.

To send an invoice at a later time at the patient's request:

  1. Open the patient's record.
  2. Go into Account Enquiry.
  3. Select Send to Patient and follow the process outlined above.

Sending from Summary Views

Secure Send can send documents from a patient's Summary Views tabs. Zedmed v36 and lower only support Referrals.

  • Summary Views > Referrals.
  • Summary Views > Images (can send supported image files).
  •  Summary Views > Attachments.
  • Summary Views > Results (right-click View Results > Send to Patient).

To send from Summary views.

  1. Right-click the letter, document or file.
    For Results, right-click View Results.
  2. Select Send to Patient.
  3. Select Send on the Send dialog.

For security reasons, some files (exe, dll, etc.) cannot be sent, as shown in the restricted list below.

Sending from Results Inbox

With Zedmed v37 and later, you can send patient results from the Results Inbox. 

  1. Select the result.
  2. Select the Send to Patient button.
    The Secure Send dialog will open.
  3. Select Recipient Email or Recipient Mobile, depending on the patient's preference.
  4. Optional: Pin not required (v37 and later)
     Overrides the one-time security code requirement - the code sent to the patient to open the portal and access the sent files.
  5. Select Send.
    A delivery success or failure notification will display.

How a patient uses Secure Send

The patient will receive an email or SMS with a link to the document followed by another message with a security code to enter into a security prompt. The link will be valid for 7 days.

The steps are as follows:

  1. Open the first email or SMS message from the practice.
    There will be a Download link in the message.
  2. Select the Download button.
    You will be presented with a 6-digit security code prompt.
  3. Open the second email or SMS with the security code.
    This will be delivered just after the message with the download link.
  4. Copy or type the code into the prompt.
  5. Select Sign In.
    Your Secure Send portal will open and show all the files sent to you in the last 7 days.
    The filename format is  <Patient Given Name><Patient Family Name><File Name>.
  6. Click on the file to open or use the down arrow to download it.
    A download lock will apply for 30 minutes if you download multiple files quickly.

Monitoring Secure Send

Use Message Manager to view Secure Send messages for all patients with the Billing and Clinical Document filters. 

Use the Messages tab on the patient's record to view Secure Send messages for a specific patient. Secure Send messages will have the description "File Delivery messages". You can see the address or mobile number the document was sent to and what the document was.