Request to Change Notification Preference to Direct Address

What Is Direct Address?

Direct is a technical standard for exchanging health information between health care entities (e.g. primary care physicians, specialists, hospitals, clinical labs) in a trusted network. Direct functions like regular e-mail with additional security measures to ensure that messages are only accessible to the intended recipient, per the protection regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

A Direct address is needed to exchange health information using Direct. Because Direct is based off of existing e-mail standards, a Direct address looks very similar to an e-mail address. Like e-mail addresses, Direct addresses can be issued to individuals or to organizations, departments, or specific devices. An example of a Direct address is b.wells@direct.aclinic.org. While this may look and function similar to an e-mail address, it is important to know that a traditional e-mail account (e.g. gmail, yahoo mail, or your company e-mail) are NOT Direct addresses. Messages sent to or from traditional e-mail accounts are not secure and will fail to send via Direct. Just like distinct fax numbers you may have today for each of your office affiliations, you or your colleagues may have a distinct Direct address for each practice affiliation. Be sure to verify that you are sending to the correct address for the location where you intend to send patient information.

For more information on Direct Address, visit this online resource.

How to Make Changes to Your Preferences

To help support care coordination efforts and ultimately improve patient outcomes, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires Valley Health to electronically notify the patient’s primary care physician(s) and post-acute care providers any time the patient is admitted, discharged or transferred from one of our hospitals. This new requirement was included as a Condition of Participation (CoP) in CMS plans and became effective May 1, 2021.

If you would prefer to receive these notifications via direct address rather than fax, please complete this form and submit to ISHelpdesk@valleyhealthlink.com.

Please Note: We need information for EVERY location. Upon receipt of the form, we will validate the data and then subsequently make the change. This can take up to 4 weeks.