Critical Issues NewsFlash - Patients and Staff Do Not Receive Email Notification of New Patient Messages in Patient Portal and EHR

Potential Patient Safety

Patients and Staff Do Not Receive Email Notifications of New Patient Messages in Patient Portal and EHR

Release Date

March 15, 2021

Known Issue #

KI196866

Issue

In NextGen® Office EHR, when practice staff send messages to patients and select the option to notify the patient by email, patients should receive an email notifying them that they have a new message in NextGen Office Patient Portal. In Patient Portal, when patients send messages to practice staff, the recipient should receive an email notifying them that a new patient message is in their Patient Messages inbox. Some practice staff and patients are not receiving email notifications of new patient messages. This issue is intermittent and does not affect all email addresses. This issue also affects statement email notifications to patients. This issue does not affect portal invitation email notifications.

Steps to Reproduce

Practice Staff Verifies That the Practice and the Patient Are Set Up for Patient Messaging

1. In PM, verify that the patient has an email address in their chart and that the Email check box box is selected next to Electronic Notifications. 
2. In Administration: Patient Messaging, verify the following:
   1. The Patient Messaging check box is selected.
   2. The Notify by Email check box is selected for the recipients.
3. Verify that the email addresses are correct for staff recipients.

Practice Staff Sends Message to the Patient

1. Create patient message.
2. Next to Send email notification?, click Yes.
3. Enter the patient's name.
4. Type the subject and message. 
5. Click Save.

The message shows in sent messages. The message is received by the patient in Patient Portal, but an email notification is not received.

Patient Sends Message to Practice Staff

1. Click Message a Provider.
2. Click New Message.
3. Select a recipient and subject.
4. Type a message. 
5. Click Send Message.

The message shows in the Patient Messages inbox on the Tasks and Messages page, but no email notification is received by staff.

Action Required

Practice staff should:

• Check their Patient Messages inbox. 
• Resend patient messages that were sent from March 1 to March 10, 2021.
• Generate another statement batch and send to the Patient Portal.

Status

This issue was fixed on March 10, 2021.

Clients who are experiencing this issue can link their practice to this issue via the NextGen Healthcare Success Community homepage. Navigate to the Known Issues tab, select the known issue that is affecting your practice, and select the This Known Issue Affects me check box. A case will be created on your behalf and you will be kept updated on the status of this issue.