Break-the-Glass is an Epic feature that allows a patient's medical record to be flagged, requiring users outside of the defined immediate patient care team to enter their reason for accessing the restricted patient record. An audit trail stores details of the event when a user chooses to break the glass and an In Basket message is sent to the UIHC Compliance Office to ensure the access was warranted. There are many other tools to monitor access to a patient record and the Break-the-Glass functionality is rarely used. To request Break-the-Glass to be set for a patient, contact the UIHC Compliance Office at 4-8282. For urgent after hour requests, please call the hospital operator.

Resources

The following resources provide information on Break-the-Glass functionality.

• Accessing a Restricted Patient Record - (Handout) To access a patient with Break-the-Glass set, the user must enter a reason and their password.
• Setting the Confidential Patient Flag - (Handout) COMPLIANCE AND HOSPITAL OPERATORS ONLY can set the Confidential patient flag from the Flags activity.

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