General Direct Directory Information

EMR Direct provides access to a nationwide directory of active healthcare providers' Direct addresses. The directory data comes from our own databases of Covered Entity addresses as well as from other HISPs. Please note that not all Direct addresses are in the directory; many HISPs do not submit their Direct addresses for their inclusion in the directory and some practice organizations whose HISPs participate in the directory either partially or fully opt out of directory inclusion. If a customer wishes to opt out of the directory, an organizational representative can un-check the "List in Directory" box for the respective user's name and address(es) through the EMR Direct Administrative site. If a provider you're looking for is not in the directory, you can always contact them out of band to obtain their Direct address.

This directory can be integrated into your application using the same phiMail API used to add our Direct messaging services to your software, to create the implementer's custom user interface for use of that data for end users of our Direct service. Refer to the phiMail API documentation and our license agreement for additional information about accessing directory data.

Directory access using just a web browser is available to those who purchase a web-based Direct messaging (phiMail Web) account directly from EMR Direct or through a reseller. Many users of integrated Direct services who have a need to find counter party addresses are also purchasing separate web-based accounts from us which have both Directory lookup and Direct messaging enabled, without requiring additional development on the implementer's side to get these customers directory access in a short time frame.

EMR Direct resellers may offer discounted service and a white labeled onboarding experience to their customers who wish to use phiMail Web, or anyone can register directly for a phiMail Web account here:

https://www.emrdirect.com/subscribe

For integrated accounts using the phiMail API to perform Directory searches; refer to the LOOKUP section under Individual Commands of the phiMail API guide for more information. Implementers can use the phiMail API to design a custom user interface for performing directory searches in a manner that makes sense for their users' workflows.

Registered phiMail Developers are welcome to test out directory functionality using phiMail Sandbox via phiMail Web Sandbox or the phiMai API prior to deploying directory functionality in your application for production use. The sandbox is populated with a large database of fictitious directory entries.

Here are some examples of the LOOKUP search string for phiMail API implementers. Note: The outer parentheses in the search string are required.

For PHP, the method is called as:

$searchString = "(&(O=Internal Medicine*)(L=SAN DIEGO)(ST=CA))";
$result = $c->searchDirectory($searchString);

For C#, the method is called as:

String searchString = "(&(O=Internal Medicine*)(L=SAN DIEGO)(ST=CA))";
List<string> results = pc.SearchDirectory(searchString);

The examples above would be used to request directory entries for providers in San Diego, California organizations with organization names containing the word "Internal Medicine". The parameter names and values are case-insensitive. For best results, include a state and/or ZIP code in every search and limit use of wildcard searches. Also, wildcards should not be used for state, ZIP, or NPI parameters. The LOOKUP method will return a list of strings with matching entries as JSON-formatted strings (zero or more) or throw an exception if there is an issue with the search. Since the data comes from various sources, not all fields will be returned for all entries. Note that a directory search will time out if the directory server does not return either a match or a "search complete" response within a certain time threshold. For this reason, the entire production database cannot be scanned sequentially using double wildcards for all fields in the time allowed--hence the recommend to minimize their use and not use for certain fields.

Please refer to the most recent version of the phiMail API documentation for additional information on directory searching; this can be found at the EMR Direct developer site.
 

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