Using the Ellkay integration
Ellkay is an account-level integration for compatible EHR systems that allows healthcare staff to have video visits with patients through Zoom Meetings. The app automatically queries Ellkay for video appointments and updates them with Zoom meeting links.
One of the primary use cases is for physicians to access the meeting links from their EHR portal, or from a Zoom appointment page where physicians/hosts can see all upcoming appointments, join those meetings, reserve Zoom Rooms, and resend invites to patients and participants. Patients would receive an email with their meeting link and can click to join.
This article covers:
Prerequisites for using the Ellkay integration
- A Zoom Business account
- BAA for HIPAA-enabled compliance
- For app install and configuration: Account owner or admin privileges
- Licensed user for any healthcare professional conducting virtual appointments
- Physicians/hosts and patients participants:
How to install from the Zoom App Marketplace
To install the Ellkay integration:
- Sign in to the Zoom App Marketplace.
- Search for Ellkay.
- Click Add.
- Review the requested permissions and click Authorize.
Once installed, you will be redirected to the configuration page.
How to configure the Ellkay integration
Initial configuration
- Under the Account Settings section of the configuration page, enter the following information:
- Ellkay subscriber key*
- Ellkay site service key*
*Note: The subscriber and site service keys are generated and provided by Ellkay. - Timezone: Current time zone is used by default, but can be changed as necessary.
- Appointment Types: Select one or more appointment types to query for and automatically create a meeting for telehealth. This field is initially disabled until initial configuration is saved.
- Disable appointment updates: Prevents the app from updating any appointments in your EHR system.
- Include join link only in reminder email: Ensures patients only receive a link to join the Zoom meeting for an appointment in the reminder email.
- In the Pre-Appointment Notifications section, click to enable the following options:
- Send email to patient: Prompts the app to send an email to the patient email address associated with the appointment when queried, as well as a reminder email when due for the appointment. Enabling this option provides an additional setting for how far ahead of the appointment to send the reminder email. By default, this is set to 60 minutes.
- Send email to custom email address: Allows you to enter a custom email address to send emails to instead. This is commonly used for initial troubleshooting. Enabling this option provides an additional setting for how far ahead of the appointment to send the reminder email. By default, this is set to 60 minutes.
- (Optional) Set the following customization options:
- Custom email logo: A custom PNG or JPEG image that will be embedded in the emails sent to patients. Files up to 2 MB are supported, with a maximum resolution of 100x800.
- Custom email content: A custom introductory message that will be included in the emails sent to patients. Maximum of 2000 characters can be added to the start of the email.
- (Optional) Enable the following Real-Time Notifications options:
Note: These fields are initially disabled until initial configuration is saved.
- Appointment prepared
- Patient joined
- Patient left
- Physician joined
- Physician left
Note: If any of these notifications are enabled, an additional Custom notification endpoint URL field will appear and must be filled out so that Zoom knows where to send the notifications. - Custom notification endpoint URL: Set the custom end-point URL for where these notifications are to be sent.
- (Optional) In the Custom meeting topic field, enter the formatting of how you want all meeting topics to be formatted. This can be used to ensure telehealth meetings do not disclose additional unintended information, such as “{Company Name} Video Visit”. This field is initially disabled until initial configuration is saved.
- Click Submit to save the current configuration.
Once the initial configuration has been completed, the Appointment Types, Real-Time Notification, and Custom meeting topic fields will be enabled, allowing admins to set these secondary configuration settings. .
Add and manage physicians
Physicians can be added, either manually or in bulk, as well as removed as needed.
To add physicians a few at a time:
- On the left side panel, click User Management and then click + Add Physicians.
- Click Add Physicians.
- In the Physician column, search by either the first and last name or physician ID, and select from the search results.
- Under the Type column, indicate if the physician must be logged in to a Zoom account before starting a meeting.
- If Logged in is selected, admins will need to provide their email address, which is used to check if that physician is signed-in to that account.
- (Optional) Repeat for additional physicians as needed.
- Click Add.
To add physicians in bulk:
- Before starting the import process, a CSV with the physicians to upload should be created. The CSV should be formatted as: ID, Logged-in (Y) or Not Logged-in (N), email address (if Y for the second column). A sample CSV can also be downloaded as part of step 5.
- On the left side panel, click User Management and then click Physicians.
- Click Import Physicians.
- Click-and-drag the edited CSV file, or click the Choose CSV File to use the file explorer to find the CSV file.
The file must have the format indicated in the window, or use the sample CSV. - Click Upload.
Physicians can also be removed by either clicking Remove to the right of each physician, or by checking one or more checkboxes to the left of each physician and clicking the Remove (#) button.
Add and manage medical staff
To add medical staff a few at a time:
- On the left side panel, click User Management and then click Medical Staff.
- Click Add Medical Staff.
- In the Medical Staff field, search by either the first and last name or email address, and select from the search results.
- (Optional) Repeat for additional medical staff as needed.
- Click the Add button.
To add medical staff in bulk:
- Before starting the import process, a CSV with the physicians to upload should be created. The CSV should include each medical staff’s email address. A sample CSV can also be downloaded as part of step 4.
- On the left side panel, click User Management and then click Medical Staff.
- Click Import Medical Staff.
- Click-and-drag the edited CSV file, or click the Choose CSV File to use the file explorer to find the CSV file.
The file must have the format indicated in the window, or use the sample CSV. - Click Upload.
Medical staff can also be removed by either clicking Remove to the right of each staff, or by checking one or more checkboxes to the left of each staff and clicking the Remove (#) button.
Manually sync meetings
The Ellkay integration automatically syncs every 15 minutes, searching the specified appointment types and updating them with Zoom meeting links. To trigger the sync manually:
- Open the Ellkay integration configuration page.
- On the left side panel, click User Management and then click Physicians.
- Click Appointments.
- Click Sync Appointments to bring the appointment data in sync with the latest data from LKCloud.
How to use the Ellkay integration
The Appointments landing page lists all information related to the scheduled appointments, including the physician's name and ID, the patient's name, the appointment time and type, and the ability to start the meeting. This appointments page shows the same information as the Appointments menu in Ellkay’s configuration page.
Only the account administrator and the users added to the Medical Staff list have access to the page.
Account admins can access the Appointments Landing Page from the Ellkay configuration page.
- Open the Ellkay app configuration page.
- On the left side panel, click User Management and then click Medical Staff.
- In the top right corner of the page, click View Appointment Page.
Admins can copy the link to share with medical staff by clicking the copy icon next to the View Appointment Page link.
How to uninstall from the App Marketplace
- Log in to the App Marketplace web portal.
- Click Manage and then click Added Apps.
- Next to the Ellkay integration, click Remove.
Data Security
All patient/practitioner data is encrypted and secured.
- Zoom enables HIPAA compliance with a BAA.
- All communications between Zoom and Ellkay, as well as Zoom video sessions, are encrypted with AES-256 bit encryption.
- Zoom video visits launched from Ellkay are dynamic and password-protected.
- All account-level settings are applicable for your video visit sessions. For example, you can disable recordings, annotations, and other features if required for security reasons.
- The app automatically creates Zoom users using information from physician and patient data, and deletes the patient Zoom accounts when the meeting ends.
How your data is used
This integration accesses and uses meeting settings information from your Zoom account, as well as the following information from your LKCloud application:
- Video visit appointments: Used to create Zoom meetings as a video conferencing platform for the appointments. The appointments will also be updated with the meeting links for the physicians and patients.
- Physician Ellkay ID: Used to generate the user ID for the physician’s Zoom account.
- Physician name: Displayed in the configuration page and Zoom meeting.
- Patient Ellkay ID: Used to generate the user ID for the patient’s Zoom account.
- Patient name: Displayed in the configuration page and Zoom meeting.
- Patient email address: Used to send an email to the patient containing the Zoom meeting join link.