Sending an attachment as a Secure Link

What is the context?

Meddbase allows emailing attachments as Secure Links, meaning the recipient of the email does not receive the attachment directly in the email, but instead follows a secure process that requires access to a mobile phone and submitting a code sent to that mobile.

What is the purpose of this article?

This article will walk you through:

• Sending a patient document attached to an email as a Secure Link
• Sending an email attachment as a Secure Link from the email inbox
• Secure Document Sharing Options
• Forcing shared document links to expire

Sending a patient document attached to an email as a Secure Link

To send a document attached to an email as a Secure Link: from patient documents:

1. From the Start Page click Find Patient.
2. Search for the relevant patient using the available search criteria and click the search result.
3. On the Patient Record page click Documents.
4. Navigate to the Secure Document Sharing section.
5. Click the relevant document and click Email.
6. Click Send document as a secure link.
7. Click OK on the warning pop-up.
8. Click Send.
9. In the Enter mobile details dialog window click OK and the email will be sent*.

*The patient's email address and mobile number are populated as per their Personal Details page.

The patient/recipient will receive the below email and can proceed with clicking the link:

The patient/recipient must click Send Code: 

The code will be texted to the patient's/recipient's mobile number, allowing them to enter this into Secure Document Sharing. 

The patient will then have access to the confidential documents sent and have an option to download/print the file.

Sending an email attachment as a Secure Link from the email inbox

To send an email attachment as a Secure Link from the email inbox:

1. From the Start Page click Inbox in the Mail section on the left-hand side.
2. Click New.
3. Click Attach as secure link.
4. In the New Secure Attachment dialog window Drag & drop the relevant file(s) or Choose them from your computer.
5. Once the file(s) is uploaded click Save.
6. Type in the recipient's email address or click To to access your contacts* and click on the relevant recipient(s).
7. Type in a Subject line.
8. Click Send.
9. In the Enter mobile details dialog window, click OK**.

*As a Meddbase user, you will have a demographic record in the system. Each record has a Contacts section where people's contact information can be added.

**When you type in the recipient's email address and click send, the mobile number field will be blank and the number will need to be provided manually, otherwise the attachment can not be sent as a secure link.

Secure Document Sharing Options

There are configuration options for the chamber that determine how document attachments can be shared and what opt-out options users will have. To access these:

1. From the Start Page navigate to Admin.
2. Click Configuration.
3. Click Email.
4. Navigate to the Secure Document Sharing section.

You will find the below configuration options available:

1. Allow attachments - This dropdown menu allows selecting the manner in which documents can be attached to emails:
   • Normal and secure attachments - when sending an email users can select whether an attachment will be sent as a standard attachment or as a secure link. Click here for more details on attaching a secure link to an email
   • Normal email attachments only - only standard email attachments are allowed
   • Secure email attachments with user opt-out (user must accept warning) - attachments are sent as secure links by default and users can manually opt-out, which changes the secure link to a standard attachment. Users must accept a pop-up warning when doing so.
   • Secure email attachments with no user opt-out - attachments are sent as secure links by default without the option to opt-out.
2. Secure link expiry (days) - As shown above, an attachment sent as a secure link prompts the recipient to follow a link in the received email and subsequently request a verification code that gets sent to their mobile phone. Once they verify the code, they can access the attachment.

   This field allows specifying the number of days the link remains active.

3. Secure link text - This field allows selecting the template that generates the body of the email for secure link attachments. 

   Please note! There is a default template in your chamber that contains Template Codes generating the link for the recipient to follow. The default message and Template Codes are as follows:

   {BeginLink}Click here to access your secure document(s){EndLink}

   If you cannot click the link above, please copy and paste the following into your browser: {CopyLink}
   This link is valid until {ExpiryDate}.

   If you choose to select a different template or edit the default, please ensure you include the necessary Template Codes shown above.

Should you wish to attach more than one document to the email please see the article: Attaching multiple documents to an email for assistance.

Forcing shared document links to expire

Once a document/file had been emailed as a secure link, changing the above settings will not deactivate the link retrospectively.

Instead, Meddbase allows you to force shared document links to expire. To do this:

From the Start Page click the Admin tile.

Click the Document sharing tile.

On the Document sharing administration set a date range and click Search.

Click on the relevant document.

Click Expire in the upper-left corner of the screen.

The status of the document will be changed from Live to Expired*.

*You can change the status of documents shared as secure links within a date range from Expired to Live by clicking Unexpire.

Once a shared document link's status is changed to Expired, the patient/recipient will no longer have access to that document. Should they try to use the link included in the original email, they will be presented with the below error message:

Review date

This article was last updated on 15th of Nov 2022 in the context of Meddbase version 1.259.1.14268