A Patient’s Guide to Ocean

If your doctor or clinic uses Ocean and you want to learn more about how our technology works while keeping your health information safe and secure, this guide is for you

Patients: Please do not come to the OceanMD office. For appointment address and details, please contact your healthcare provider directly.

Ocean helps make care more convenient

Book your own appointments

Receive secure emails and SMS

Complete forms digitally

OceanMD (formerly CognisantMD) is a software company based in Toronto, Ontario. Our Ocean software is used across Canada by over 25,000 healthcare providers to connect with over 10,000 patients daily. The Ocean Platform is used by numerous Public Health organizations, the Ontario Ministry of Health, and leading teaching hospitals.

Ocean is designed to help make healthcare better and easier for patients. With Ocean, you can be sure your patient information is always kept private and secure, using the most advanced technology available. For example, when you interact with Ocean to complete a form on a tablet in the waiting room or through a secure email, your responses are encrypted from end-to-end, then transmitted directly into your patient record at the health care provider’s office. This eliminates the need for your clinic to print and mail out forms and transcribe your responses while giving you an easier way to contribute to your own record.

How to use Ocean

How to open a secure message

Open and read the email from your healthcare provider.
If they include any personal health information or need you to complete forms, there will be a blue weblink in the body of the message. Clicking on the link will take you to an encrypted page where you can see your secure message and forms.
To access your secure message, enter your date of birth. Depending on the provider, there may be additional security questions to validate your identity.
Read over the secure message. If there are any attachments, download the files via the “Download” button before proceeding.
Click “Next” to move on to your forms. If there are no forms, you can close the window.

Once your forms are complete, your responses will be automatically sent into your patient record for the provider to review.

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How to book appointments online

Go to your healthcare provider’s online booking portal.
Enter your first and last name, date of birth, and health number.
Pick the provider you want to see.
Pick your appointment type, answer additional questions, and complete forms (if applicable).
Pick a date and time for the appointment.
Check your email to make sure it’s spelled correctly and book your appointment!

You will receive a confirmation email with your appointment details. If you need to cancel or reschedule, you can use the link provided in the confirmation email.

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How to submit pictures and documents

Before attempting to send pictures, files, and other personal health information, check with your clinic to see what options they’ve made available for you.

Do not email personal health information, including photos and documents, to OceanMD directly. Our email address does not belong to your healthcare provider and we are unable to assist with individual patient requests.

While the Ocean Platform allows patients to respond to a secure message and/or send photos and documents, these features are optional and fully controlled by your healthcare provider. If your healthcare provider is using Ocean for secure file transfer, please follow these steps:

Go to your healthcare provider’s file uploader.
Enter your first and last name, date of birth, and health number.
Click the checkbox labelled “I would like to include an attachment with this message.”
Click the “Add Attachments” button to select one or more files. Hit “Finish” once you’re done.

Note: Ocean accepts attachments with a size limit of 10MB per file and up to 50MB total for all attachments. There is also a limitation on certain file types (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tiff, .tif, .mp3, .mp4, .txt, .pdf). If you upload a file type that is not supported or that is too large, you will receive an inappropriate size or type error message.

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Troubleshooting FAQ

Why did I receive an email from my healthcare provider on Ocean?

If your healthcare provider uses Ocean to communicate with you, you may receive an email for the following reasons:

To confirm and remind you of an upcoming appointment
To ask you to complete forms before or after an appointment
To share test results or other information regarding your health
To provide information about a secure electronic referral for specialist services

If you no longer want to receive these types of emails, please contact your healthcare provider directly. Email consent is managed at the clinic-level; Ocean does not store your email address.

I can’t open my secure message. What’s wrong?

If you can’t pass the validation question(s) set by your doctor, there is a chance they have the wrong information in your file. In these instances, please contact them directly to update your information and request a new secure message as any previous secure messages will remain inaccessible.

I have a question about my health. If I email you, will my doctor see the message?

If you are a patient, please do not send personal health information directly to OceanMD. Our email address does not belong to your healthcare provider and due to privacy restrictions designed to protect you, we are unable to help with any requests.

How do I respond to my doctor’s message?

The option to allow patient replies is controlled by your healthcare provider. If you received a message and a response is required, you can respond in the Health Messenger.

If your clinic has enabled patient-initiated communication, you can send a message using their secure weblink.

We recommend checking with your clinic to see what options are available to you.

Because Ocean uses date of birth validation, no logins or account registration are required.

I need to re-access my information/I deleted my email. Can you send me another link?

These messages are sent by your healthcare provider (we’re just the platform that helps makes it happen) so we recommend reaching out to the clinic directly for help. Due to privacy restrictions designed to protect patient health information, we are unable to assist with individual patient requests like resending secure messages or reminders for appointment confirmations.

How do I unsubscribe from these messages?

Email consent is managed at the clinic level. Generally, each clinic has their own policies regarding email use for health information. If you have any questions or no longer want to receive information regarding your health via email or Ocean, please contact the health care provider’s office directly. Ocean does not store your email address.

If you no longer want to receive appointment reminders via text, respond with “END.”

If you wish to opt back in, respond with “START” in the same message thread you originally opted out of. If you deleted the thread or have a new phone number, text “START” to 647-905-9789.

I can’t make my appointment. Can I cancel it through Ocean?

If you booked your appointment through Ocean, you may be able to cancel your appointment through the confirmation email. Please keep in mind that clinics set their own cancellation policies.

If your appointment was booked by the clinic, you will need to contact them directly to cancel your appointment.

As a reminder, we do not offer any medical services and your appointments are not booked with us; we are just the technology platform that your healthcare provider uses to communicate with you.

The online booking portal won’t let me proceed!

Ocean’s online booking system requires a perfect match between the name, birth date, and health card number to proceed. If the information in your health record and what you enter on the booking form doesn’t match, it may not let you book. We recommend double-checking spelling and your health card number when attempting to book.

If you are still unable to book online and you’re positive your info is correct, please ask your healthcare provider to review the information that they have on file for you.

In some cases, clinics will only accept appointments from existing patients. We recommend contacting the clinic directly to see what options are available.

You have the wrong date of birth!

If you get an error message saying you submitted the wrong date of birth, there is a chance your healthcare provider has the wrong information in your patient record. Please contact them directly to update your information and request a new email.

Due to privacy restrictions designed to protect patient information, Ocean cannot make any changes to your file.

There are two different times in my appointment reminder. Which one is correct?

If you’re seeing two different times in your reminder email, your email provider or device (ex. Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.) might be set to a different time zone.

The appointment details in orange are based on your clinic’s time zone. If the iCal file (usually at the top) doesn’t match, please check your email settings to make sure it’s set to your current time zone.

Here are some instructions for changing time zones:

If you’re still having issues, you will need to reach out to your email provider for technical assistance.

FAQs: Privacy and Security

Can OceanMD access or sell my personal health information?

No. As noted above, OceanMD is committed to keeping patient data secure using the most stringent approaches to data security and privacy. OceanMD never accesses or sells personal information of patients. Furthermore, since all data is fully encrypted, OceanMD cannot access personal health information in a readable format. In this encrypted state, data is meaningless and can not be commoditized or sold to a third party, including the parent company of OceanMD, WELL Health Inc.

How can I be sure this message is from my healthcare provider?

Depending on your healthcare provider’s settings, messages may be delivered from their clinic email address, or “[email protected].” The contents of the message itself can vary from clinic to clinic.

After clicking on the link to open the Health Messenger, look for a “lock” symbol in the address bar. This means the site is safe and there is a private connection. These security settings can vary depending on the browser you use so it’s always a good idea to understand how your browser identifies safe and unsafe websites. Click here to view our privacy policy.

If you have any concerns about the message, we recommend contacting the clinic directly.

How does Ocean keep patient data private and secure?

The Ocean Platform was built from the ground up to ensure patient health data is kept private and secure, using client-side patient encryption technology. All patient data sent to and stored within Ocean is encrypted end-to-end using the industry-standard 256-bit AES, the same technology used for online banking.

To further guard against any possible breach of personal health information on our Ocean servers, patient data is encrypted using a private key, created by and known only by health clinic administrators. Since encryption keys are kept private and stored locally within each individual clinic, no agent outside of the clinic can ever decrypt or read private patient information. This ensures that even the most trusted staff and technical team members at OceanMD are completely unable to read patient charts or any private health information.

Where is my personal health information being stored and who has access to it?

OceanMD is not an electronic medical record (EMR) system and not designed to act as a long-term repository of health information. All patient data is stored in encrypted form only for a limited time in order to support patient care. During that time period, only healthcare providers with a secure login and access to the clinic’s unique encryption key can access decrypted patient health information residing in Ocean. Once patient data has been successfully downloaded to the patient chart in the clinic’s EMR, it is routinely deleted from the Ocean Platform. All Ocean data, including client-side encrypted PHI, is stored in our primary storage facility located in Montreal, with additional copies of the data kept in a warm failover disaster recovery facility in Toronto.

Why are you asking for my birth date or other personal information?

Traditional email communication comes with a lot of privacy risks – emails and their contents can easily be forwarded without your knowledge, messages may be sent to the wrong address, and more.

To combat some of these risks, you are asked to provide a date of birth. This is then compared to the date of birth in your patient record. If there is a match and you are the intended recipient for the message, you’ll be able to proceed.

Ocean does not collect or save your PHI for validation checks.

Why did I receive an email from Ocean ([email protected])?

OceanMD provides a secure way for healthcare providers to communicate with their patients. Messages from OceanMD will come from a [email protected] email address unless the clinic has set up their messages to come from their own, customized domain. Many clinics will update the “from name” to their clinic or another custom name of their choice. In that case, the email will appear to come from “Clinic Name” [[email protected]]. If you receive an email from this address, you can feel confident that the content and any links in that message are from your healthcare provider. If you are unsure, please contact your healthcare provider/clinic directly.

View Privacy Policy

A Patient’s Guide to Ocean

Ocean helps make care more convenient

Book your own appointments

Receive secure emails and SMS

Complete forms digitally

How to use Ocean

How to open a secure message

How to book appointments online

How to submit pictures and documents

Troubleshooting FAQ

FAQs: Privacy and Security

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