Lockbox

It is the patient's right to request a lock on his/her record. Locking a record limits use and/or disclosure of personal health information (PHI) and is known as a Lockbox or Consent Directive. To read more about this policy, go to the Privacy Office intranet site by clicking here.

Patients can request to:

1. Fully lock their record from being accessed.

2. Lock a particular EPR user from accessing their record.

3. Place a Privacy Alert on their Patient Dashboard (e.g. do not send records outside of UHN).

If any of the above lockbox features are applied in EPR, you will be prompted by the system and provided with additional instructions. For example, a fully locked record would display as:

Other Privacy Alerts, not directly related to the feature that locks UHN staff from patient records, will appear on the Patient Dashboard as a Lock icon. These include patient requests not to use PHI within UHN or disclose PHI outside of UHN.

Unlocking a Patient Record

There are some circumstances under which it may be necessary to unlock a patient record (e.g. patient’s express consent or avoiding serious bodily harm). Some EPR access types, such as NAC, have the ability to perform this function. To learn more about acceptable reasons and who has the ability to unlock a record, please go to the Privacy Office intranet site by clicking here.

1. On the main desktop, select the Lockbox tab and then select Unlock Patient Record under the Lock/Unlock Patient Record block.

2. Enter the patient ID to search for the patient and click OK.

3. Select the correct patient and click OK.

4. Choose (U) Unlock Patient Record.

5. Select the Unlock Reason from the list and click OK.

6. A word document will open for more detailed documentation as seen in the example below. Enter any necessary documentation and click on the X at the top right of the screen to exit.

7.  Click YES to save and upload to the EPR chart.

8. Click on Accept to complete the unlocking of the chart.

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