Can I Send to Any Direct Address?

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You can send to any valid Direct address, but…the receiver’s system may reject the message if you aren’t in their trusted network.

A couple of factors that make Direct messaging secure is that both parties need to exchange security certificates and feel confident everyone is who they say they are. As you can imagine, that would be very time consuming to do on a one-by-one basis.

To facilitate the exchange of Direct messages, Trust Communities are emerging where members are “pre-approved” for Direct exchange. DirectTrust is the largest of these communities. Updox, as your Health Information Service Provider (HISP), is an accredited member of DirectTrust which means you can exchange with any other trusted user served by a HISP in the bundle. 

To become trusted, a user (or a representative of the medical practice on behalf of the users) needs to pass an identity verification process.

Now, the big question…is the person you’re sending to part of the DirectTrust network?  Currently, the quickest way to know is simply to send a Direct message to the person. If the proper security certificates aren’t in place you’ll receive an error that the message couldn’t be delivered.  

As you discover trusted Direct addresses, be sure to add the contacts to your practice’s Address Book which will make exchange easier going forward.

Once Provider Directories become available you’ll also be able to simply search for Direct addresses in the nationwide network.