Emergency access is a feature that is required by the software for Meaningful Use Certification in the ONC 2014 Edition Test Script 170-314(d)(6).  This feature allows the clinic to permit an identified set of users to access electronic health information during an emergency.

To turn Emergency Access on or off for you clinic network, open Security by going to Tools > Security.  

The General section of Security Administration includes an Emergency Access setting (as seen in the screenshot above).  To turn emergency access privileges ON for your clinic network, check the Enable Emergency Access box.  Then click the Close button and have all users log out and back in to SOAPware.  Once a user logs out of SOAPware and logs back in, they will now have the new emergency access privileges that have been assigned to them.

To turn emergency access privileges OFF for your network, uncheck the Enable Emergency Access box.  Click then Close button and require all users to log out of SOAPware and back in.  Once a users logs out and logs back in, their user privileges will be restored to their roles that are assigned for non-emergency access.

Security Administrators have the ability to grant users access to specific roles while emergency access in enabled.  This allows a user that normally has access to features designated to a role of, for example, Medical Assistant, to have higher privileges when accessing electronic health information during an emergency.  

To set emergency access roles for an individual user, follow the steps below:

1. Click the expander node (+) next to Users.
2. Select the user that you wish to edit the emergency access roles for.
3. Click the Role Membership tab.
4. In the Emergency Access Roles section, place a check in the box next to each role that you wish for the selected user to gain security privileges from once Emergency Access has been enabled.