Purpose before placement
Every public link should have a defined purpose, an appropriate audience, and wording that accurately describes what happens next.
SECURE WORKFLOW GOVERNANCE
A public link should appear only after ownership, approval, and safety are clear.
ProfileMD can help a physician or clinic connect public professional information to an approved secure destination. The clinic owns the clinical pathway; ProfileMD governs how that pathway is represented in the public layer.
No public patient intake Clinic-approved destinations Named operational ownership Verified before activation
INSTITUTIONAL PURPOSE
Separate public guidance from clinical operations.
A physician profile may help someone recognize an official booking page, secure form, patient portal, or clinic communication pathway. Publishing that link does not make ProfileMD the operator of the destination or the recipient of patient information.
The governance model keeps those responsibilities visible: ProfileMD organizes the public explanation; the physician or clinic authorizes the pathway; the clinic-approved system receives and protects any information submitted there.
Public clarity and clinical privacy should reinforce each other.
GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES
Trust is established before the button is published.
A secure destination is not simply a URL. It is a public promise about authority, routing, responsibility, and what a person should expect next.
Authority before activation
The responsible physician or clinic should approve the exact destination, public wording, routing, and operational owner before launch.
Testing before trust
A secure destination should be tested end to end so the clinic understands access, notifications, monitoring, and follow-up responsibilities.
Stewardship after publication
Approval is not permanent by default. Public links require ongoing ownership, correction, status review, and removal when circumstances change.
RESPONSIBILITY MODEL
Each layer retains a distinct role.
Clear responsibility reduces ambiguity for patients, physicians, clinic teams, and technology providers.
| Responsibility | ProfileMD public layer | Physician or clinic | Secure system provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public explanation | Organizes approved wording, context, status, and link placement. | Confirms accuracy, authority, and appropriateness for the clinic. | Provides accurate product and destination information. |
| Clinical information | Does not collect, store, or review patient medical information. | Defines the approved clinical or administrative purpose. | Receives and protects information under the clinic's configuration and agreement. |
| Routing and monitoring | Does not operate the clinic's inbox or workflow. | Assigns staff ownership, monitoring, and follow-up responsibility. | Provides the configured delivery, notification, or access functions. |
| Ongoing stewardship | Supports public correction, status review, suspension, or removal. | Reports operational or approval changes that affect the public link. | Maintains the underlying service according to its agreement with the clinic. |
GOVERNANCE LIFECYCLE
From proposed destination to maintained public pathway.
The review is staged so that public communication never outruns the clinic's operational readiness.
- 01
Define
Clarify the public purpose, intended audience, and appropriate clinic-owned destination.
- 02
Authorize
Confirm who may approve the exact link, wording, routing, and publication status.
- 03
Verify
Review destination ownership, privacy context, monitoring responsibility, and safety language.
- 04
Test
Complete an end-to-end test using the clinic's approved process before the link is activated.
- 05
Maintain
Assign responsibility for corrections, link health, approval changes, and future removal.
ACTIVATION STANDARD
Publication follows documented readiness.
A real secure button should remain inactive until the exact destination, ownership, routing, safety wording, and test pathway have been reviewed.
Until approval is complete, ProfileMD may use public education, a non-clickable status label, or an explicit clinic-approval-needed state. It does not publish fabricated or placeholder destinations.
Review Secure Destination StandardsTECHNOLOGY NEUTRALITY
The governance standard applies regardless of vendor.
A clinic-approved destination may use OceanMD, Hushmail, an online booking service, a patient portal, secure messaging, or another authorized system. Mentioning a product does not imply endorsement, partnership, interoperability, or a guaranteed connection to an EMR.
Any PS Suite or EMR behaviour depends on the clinic's own configuration, licensing, testing, and vendor relationship. ProfileMD does not promise automatic chart updates or default synchronization.
SCOPE AND LIMITS
Publishing a link does not transfer clinical responsibility.
The public layer can clarify and govern the handoff without becoming a clinic, portal, intake service, or clinical intermediary.
PROFILEMD MAY
- Explain the purpose of a clinic-approved public destination
- Place an approved link on the appropriate physician profile
- Display status, ownership, and safety information around the link
- Support wording, review, testing, and publication planning
- Maintain a correction or removal pathway for the public link
PROFILEMD DOES NOT
- Collect patient medical information on public ProfileMD pages
- Operate the clinic's inbox, portal, booking system, or clinical workflow
- Promise automatic PS Suite or EMR chart updates
- Provide medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, prescriptions, or referrals
- Provide emergency triage or guarantee appointments, access, or response times
PATIENT SAFETY BOUNDARY
Use only the official pathway designated by your physician or clinic.
ProfileMD public pages do not collect patient medical information. Do not send symptoms, medical questions, appointment reasons, test results, documents, or other personal health information to ProfileMD.
For a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
Visit the patient-facing ProfileMD.ca contact pagePROFESSIONAL PARTICIPATION
Begin with the public profile. Add a secure destination only when the clinic is ready.
ProfileMD can review professional context, authority, ownership, and the proposed public pathway without collecting patient information.