Practice Management User Administration

PCC, or your practice’s System Administrator, can use the User Administration (useradmin) program to create new accounts and grant or deny access to Practice Management features.

Contents

1 Introduction: PM vs. PCC EHR User Administration
2 Add a New PCC User Account
3 Run the Practice Management useradmin Tool
4 Change a User’s Practice Management Password
5 Lock Out a Practice Management User
6 Restore or “Unlock” a Previously Locked Practice Management User Account
7 Edit an Authorization List on Your PCC Server

Introduction: PM vs. PCC EHR User Administration

When you need to change user permissions, adjust passwords, or adjust other user settings, use the User Administration tools in PCC EHR.

Use the useradmin program, described below, to manage login accounts for your Practice Management applications and for System Administrator access to your PCC server.

PCC recommends that you:

Encourage users to keep their passwords to themselves.
Have your staff change their password periodically.
Lock out former staff members from the system as soon as possible. Inform PCC when you do this, especially if the staff member has a home connection to your server.
Train your staff to log out of their workstation when they are finished. Do not allow several users to share the same login window.

Add a New PCC User Account

To learn how to add a new user account to practice management and your practice’s PCC server, read Add a New PCC User Account.

Contact PCC support for additional assistance.

Run the Practice Management useradmin Tool

Run useradmin from either the System Administration window in your Practice Management windows or by typing useradmin at a command prompt.

Since useradmin performs sensitive administrative functions, only authorized personnel can run it, such as your office’s System Administrator or PCC’s Customer Care Team. useradmin keeps an internal list of authorized users; the System Administrator can change this list at any time.

The main useradmin screen looks like this:

Authorized users may press the appropriate function key to add or lock out a user, change a user’s password, or edit authorization lists.

Command Prompt Shortcuts: Authorized users can type the commands listed on the screen instead of running the useradmin program to select them. For example, a system administrator might type userpasswd at a command prompt to reset a user’s password.

Change a User’s Practice Management Password

If a user forgets their PM password, the System Administrator can reset it for them in useradmin. Press F4 – Change Password to begin.

You will be shown a list of users:

Select the user and press Enter to change their password. You will be shown a warning, and then asked to enter the new password four times:

Passwords must be at least 5 characters long.

Better Password Security: The user should log into Partner and change their password once you have reset it to something new. Encourage users to pick passwords that are difficult to guess or contain a mix of letters and numbers.

Lock Out a Practice Management User

Your practice’s System Administrator should lock out any user who should no longer be using your Partner system. Your Partner server contains Private Health Information (PHI) as well as sensitive financial information about your practice. Whether an employee has left your practice or is being assigned to a new position away from the computer, they should be locked out of the Partner system as soon as their Partner related responsibilities are finished.

Run useradmin and press F3 – Lockout User to retire a user’s login name. You will be shown a list of users from which to choose:

Select the user whom you wish to lock out and press Enter.

Computer System Names: You may see some system login names that are part of how the operating system functions. Do not lock out those users.

CALL PCC: You may want to inform PCC when you remove a user from your system. If a former employee often spoke with PCC, you should tell our support team that the user should no longer be given access to your system. If the user had access to Partner from a home or remote office, it is especially important that you contact PCC and tell us to turn off that connection.

Restore or “Unlock” a Previously Locked Practice Management User Account

When your practice re-hires an employee or for some other reason restores access to the Practice Management system and your PCC server, you can unlock a formerly locked account.

Select Restore a Locked Out User to the System from the useradmin menu.

Edit an Authorization List on Your PCC Server

You can adjust most permissions and user authorizations in the User Administration tool in PCC EHR.

Your PCC server has additional authorization lists for under-the-hood billing and administrative tasks.

Open the Partner useradmin program and press F8 – Authztn List to edit authorization lists.

There are two system authorization lists that you can edit:

First, you can edit the list of users authorized to add new users to the system. This includes access to changing passwords, locking out users, and access to changing this same authorization list. Users on this list can run the useradmin program.

Second, you can edit which users are allowed to edit patient and account notes for the Structured Notes option in the Family Editor and Patient Editor.

When you edit an authorization list, you will see a simple text box with a list of usernames:

Make changes and press F1 – Save to confirm. Press F12 to quit without making changes.