Patient Rights and Responsibilities
Use of OUD4ME.COM for Health Care Services
OUD4ME.COM is Not a Substitute for Direct Care
Guidelines for Use of OUD4ME.COM
OU College of Dentistry is committed to preserving the privacy of patient health information. For more information regarding the College's practices concerning health information, please see OU College of Dentistry's Notice of Privacy Practices.
For more information regarding the College's practices concerning patient rights and responsibilities , please see OU College of Dentistry's Patient Rights and Responsibilities.
By agreeing to these terms and conditions, I acknowledge that I am requesting access to portions of my health information and the ability to communicate with my OU College of Dentistry health care team concerning my health information via the Internet using an electronic application called oud4me.com.
OUD4ME.COM should not be used for urgent matters or emergencies that may immediately affect one's health or well-being. Therefore, in an emergency, one should go to the emergency department of a local hospital and/or dial "911."
The OU College of Dentistry health care team may send patients secure messages via oud4me.com. These messages may contain information that is important to a patient's health care. It is the responsibility of the patient to monitor these messages. When a patient enters a valid and functional e-mail address, OU College of Dentistry is able to notify patients of messages sent to their message Inbox. To facilitate this message notification process, patients should update e-mail address information on oud4me.com as needed.
By participating in the oud4me.com patient portal, patients agree not to hold OU College of Dentistry and Health Professionals under contract to OU College of Dentistry, hereafter known as the "Service Provider," liable for any loss, injury or claims of any kind resulting from oud4me.com messages that they fail to read in a timely manner. By electing to use oud4me.com patient portal messaging, patients agree to use this service only when needed or as instructed by an OU College of Dentistry provider. All communication through a patient's oud4me.com account will be in regard to that patient's own health condition(s). A health care provider's ability to respond to a patient's message is based on the information provided by the patient. If there is insufficient information from the patient, the provider will be unable to offer accurate and reliable services. Keeping the messages brief and clear will help expedite communications. Contents of any message may become part of the patient's health record. Should an OU College of Dentistry provider be out of the office or elect to not receive oud4me.com messages directly, other members of the health care team may help process the communications. Therefore, sensitive information that a patient would prefer to share only with a specific provider may be best shared during an appointment rather than by using oud4me.com patient portal. A patient may have the ability to schedule or request appointments using oud4me.com patient portal. It is the patient's responsibility to request appointments appropriately. If patients abuse the privilege or do not show-up to appointments that have been scheduled using the patient portal, access to OUD4ME.COM may be revoked. Under certain circumstances, patients may ask for advice and/or perform certain oud4me.com patient portal functions on behalf of another person if that person has been authorized for such access. OU College of Dentistry does not assume any responsibility for misuse of oud4me.com patient portal services used by authorized persons.
The patient will create a unique identification (ID) code, called a Username, as well as a Password to be used to access health information via oud4me.com. The Username and Password in combination will identify the patient in the OU College of Dentistry computer system. By using a Username and Password, the system will know when a patient makes inquiries and entries to his or her dental record or another health record for which one has been granted access. It is extremely important to keep the Username and Password completely confidential. If at any time a patient feels that the confidentiality of a Password has been compromised, the patient is responsible for changing it by clicking on the "Change Password" link on the oud4me.com homepage. OU COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR AND DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR DAMAGES ARISING FROM A BREACH OF HEALTH RECORD CONFIDENTIALITY RESULTING FROM SHARING OR LOSING A PASSWORD. If OU College of Dentistry discovers that a patient has inappropriately shared his or her Password with another person or that oud4me.com privileges have been misused or abused in any way, OU College of Dentistry, without prior notice, may discontinue that patient's participation in the oud4me.com patient portal.
Safeguarding one's password and online identity is key to protecting patient information. Suitable caution must be exercised in setting up Personal Verification Questions and Passwords. Always keep Personal Verification Questions and Answers strictly confidential.
OU College of Dentistry does not recommend questions with answers that can be found in a patient's wallet or purse or other likely locations. Questions like, What is my address? Date of birth? Height? etc., can be easily found on identification items, such as a drivers license. Other questions, like, Mother's maiden name, is commonly over used, and as such can be determined by many individuals with access to an individual's family records. Any question that is in the public domain of knowledge or questions that do not have an answer unique to a patient's situation should be avoided. To avoid input errors, refrain from using questions that require a date answer, unless the format used to enter the answer is easily recalled (YY-MM-DD etc.).
Questions should be easy enough to remember but personal so they cannot be answered by someone else. These questions are stored in such a way that they are not accessible by anyone other than the patient. Staff cannot retrieve the questions or the answers.
From time to time patients may be asked to complete patient satisfaction surveys via oud4me.com patient portal. OU College of Dentistry asks for survey participation so that better service can be provided to patients. At times, a patient's information may be combined with others to provide general reports. In that circumstance, everyone's personal identifiers will be removed so no one can be identified in the combined reports.
OUD4ME.COM patient portal enrollment is contingent on verification of a patient's identity in person by an OU College of Dentistry employee or provider.
Proxy access allows one to access another patient's oud4me.com account. Proxy access can be used for parents who would like access to their children's records, legal guardians of adults or for adult patients wishing to grant access to other adults. A proxy can take advantage of oud4me.com patient portal features on behalf of another person. In order to gain proxy access for children, the parent or legal guardian must make this request in person upon checking-in for a child's visits. If the child is under the age of 18, the staff will be able to grant proxy access. However, if the child is 18 years of age (or older), the parent/guardian and child will need to complete the release of information form provided by the front desk staff. Once this form is returned, the staff will be able to grant proxy access to the records using oud4me.com. Similarly, adults wishing to grant proxy access to other adults will need to complete the release of information form before the proxy access can be granted.
The health information available to view using oud4me.com is pulled directly from an electronic health record from OU College of Dentistry. The health information accessible using oud4me.com patient portal is listed below. For each visit, a summary report that contains information like patient instructions, etc., can be viewed:
- Health Summary Current Health Issues
- Medications
- Allergies
- Health History Past Medical History
- Past Surgical History
- Appointment History
OUD4ME.COM also offers a way to ask technical questions, get help, and offer feedback by sending a message to the oud4me.com Help Desk.
OU College of Dentistry reserves the right to limit or discontinue use of oud4me.com if the patient does not abide by the following terms and conditions.
I understand that oud4me.com may not be available to me at all times due to system failures, back-up procedures, maintenance, or other causes. Access is provided on an "as-is, as-available" basis and the Service Provider does not guarantee that I will be able to access oud4me.com at any particular time. During times when oud4me.com is unavailable, other communication methods (e.g., telephone) should be used to access my OU College of Dentistry provider.
I UNDERSTAND THAT THE SERVICE PROVIDER TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR AND DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY ARISING FROM ANY INACCURACIES OR DEFECTS IN SOFTWARE, COMMUNICATION LINES, VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK, THE INTERNET OR MY INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER (ISP), ACCESS SYSTEM, COMPUTER HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE, OR ANY OTHER SERVICE OR DEVICE THAT I USE TO ACCESS OUD4ME.COM. I WILL MAINTAIN MY CURRENT INFORMATION, NOTIFYING OU COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY OF CHANGES TO MY EMAIL ADDRESS AND OTHER CONTACT INFORMATION. I UNDERSTAND THAT ALTHOUGH OU COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY INTENDS THIS TO BE A SECURE SYSTEM, NO SYSTEM CAN DEFEND AGAINST EVERY THREAT. IF I HAVE INFORMATION OF A SENSITIVE NATURE TO DISCUSS, I MAY ELECT TO DISCUSS VIA TELEPHONE OR IN PERSON.