Direct Account Administrator’s Steps for Adding a New Organization-Level Authentication Account

NOTE: These steps are for when the phiMail software integration is hosted locally at practices, the administrator manages a phiMail integration for just one organization, or there are multiple accounts which are not managed by a single entity exclusively. If your organization’s software is used by other parties but is hosted centrally on servers you control exclusively, refer to the EHR-Level Authentication Note instead.

1. Organizational Representative signs in to their administrative account, where account status regarding missing/received forms is reflected within approximately 1 business day of receipt, and where the Org Rep can make Direct address requests by following the steps below for each new practice or other organization to onboard for Direct.

2. Enter the name and (optionally) NPI of a new organization and click "Add Organization".

a. For each separate legal entity whose employees and agents will be using Direct, add a new Organization and indicate a Direct Domain unique to that entity.

3. Click the “+” in the red box to expand the organization.

4. Enter the subdomain (the part of the Direct address after the @ sign) in the DIRECT DOMAIN field.

a. If you will provide access to Direct for third parties, enter a customer-specific subdomain (i.e.customername.mycompany.phimailbox.com, customername.direct.mydomain.com, or customer.mycompany-direct.com); the customer organization also submits a co-branded application form and the application signer’s identity will be verified. In this case, use a domain like corp.direct.mydomain.com or corp.mycompany.phimailbox.com for addresses that will be used by employees or agents of your own company.

b. If EMR Direct is only providing Direct service to your organization through your software, you can choose a simpler custom domain unique to your organization (i.e. direct.yourdomain.com).

5. Select Organization-Level Authentication. Your developer will configure your software to use Address Groups as in the phiMail API documentation to authenticate, send, and regularly poll for new messages at the Organization Level, which includes all addresses enabled under that organization's administrative account entry. The Org-level username begins with "@" and is followed by the organization's Direct Domain.

6. Enter an ADMIN MOBILE NUMBER capable of SMS for administrator password setup/reset. Usually this is a number at the EMR Vendor, if they are authorized to configure the account into the EMR. Contact support@emrdirect.com to use certificate-based authentication at the Organization Level.

7. Enter the Last, First Name, DIRECT ADDRESS (part before the @) and Individual NPI identifier (optional) for at least one user/address pair, one at a time for each DIRECT ADDRESS to be provisioned. At least one “primary” authorized and identity verified human person's name (user) per Direct address, or as many users as the organization wants included in the nationwide Direct directory, needs to be added. It's best to include an address and Individual NPI for every provider that may need to be looked up for transmission of an ADT or referral from another organization.

8. Check or un-check the LIST IN DIRECTORY box, as desired for that user/address pair. NOTE that at this time only Covered Entity organizations are included in the nationwide Direct directory.

9. Click “ADD USER” to submit each user/address pair.

10. Submit a Direct Messaging Application to EMR Direct for the organization name added in step 2 above. If the application signer checks the "remote proofing" box on their application, the administrator may skip the notary visit in the next step.

11. Have the signer of the application form complete identity verification by mailing a notarized identity verification form to EMR Direct or complete online identity verification on our website.

12. We will invoice you if additional payment is required and notify you by email when the certificate for a new Direct account has been issued.

13. New addresses that you request at Org-Level authentication are automatically added to the Org-Level Address Group generated when a new organziation is onboarded for Driect.

At a minimum for the first account issued to any reseller, depending on how you designed your automatic polling process, you may need to configure your polling process to handle incoming messages and notifications properly for each new organization or Direct address. For example, you might need to initially configure or modify your polling process so it can deposit incoming Direct messages and notifications for the Direct addresses corresponding to each distinct organization to the appropriate file location where authorized users from each organization will be able to access only the appropriate message content. And similarly for message transmit on the sending side.

You may also need to contact those responsible for your organization's phiMail software integration for additional configuration related details.

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