What Google account is used, and why

The EMR uses a single Google account operated by the hospital (not a patient's or individual staff member's personal account) to automate two internal hospital operations:

1. HMO / Insurance authorization emails (Gmail)

When the hospital sends a treatment-authorization request to a patient's HMO (health insurance provider) by email, the EMR periodically checks that hospital Google account's inbox for unread replies whose subject line matches the specific authorization request it sent (e.g. containing an internal invoice reference such as "[INV-1234]"). When a matching reply is found, the EMR reads the reply, records it against the corresponding invoice inside the hospital's own database, notifies hospital reception staff, and marks the email as read. It does not read, search, or act on any other email in the account.

2. Ultrasound / radiology scan storage (Google Drive)

Ultrasound scan images captured from the hospital's imaging equipment are uploaded to a Google Drive folder under the same hospital-operated Google account, so they can be retrieved and displayed within a patient's record inside the EMR. The EMR only creates and reads files it uploads itself — it does not access, list, or modify any other files already present in that Google account's Drive.

Data sharing

Data accessed through these integrations is used solely for the internal hospital operations described above. It is not sold, shared, or disclosed to any third party, and is not used for advertising or any purpose unrelated to operating the hospital's own EMR.

Data retention

Email correspondence and scan files handled through these integrations are retained as part of the hospital's ordinary medical and billing records, for as long as the hospital is required or chooses to retain those records under its own record-keeping policies.

Contact

Questions about this policy or how this integration handles data can be sent to [email protected].