Connected Patient Portal Overview and Data Management

SigmaMD offers a feature that allows patients to connect to supported external patient portals and import their health data securely into the SigmaMD system. This enables a seamless integration of valuable health information including conditions, allergies, medications, and procedures which is also shared with your clinician within SigmaMD. This article walks through how to connect a portal, how imported data behaves, how long connections last, and how to disconnect.

Connecting to an External Patient Portal

Currently, SigmaMD supports record imports from health systems using Epic, Cerner, and Athenahealth.

Accessing the Feature

There are two ways to navigate to the 'Connected Patient Portals' screen:

Through the Profile Screen
- Navigate to the 'Profile' screen.
- Tap on 'Connected Patient Portals'.
Via the Home Screen Card
- On the home screen, find the card with the text "Connect to patient portals for secure access and management of your health data".
- Tap on this card to navigate directly to the 'Connected Patient Portals' screen.

Searching for a Patient Portal

In the search bar, type the name of your external patient portal (e.g., Stanford Health).
Select your portal from the results.

Logging In

Once you have selected a patient portal, you will be prompted to log in.
Authorize SigmaMD to access and import your health data.

Data Retrieval

After authorization, SigmaMD will begin retrieving your health data from the external patient portal.
This process may take a minute or two. Once completed, your data will be available in your SigmaMD account and shared with your clinician.

Reviewing Imported Data

Navigate to the 'Health Data' section to review all imported data.

How Imported Data Works

Important: Data Imports Automatically

Imported data does not require clinician review before appearing in the chart. For this reason, patients should be careful to connect the correct portal to the correct patient chart. Patients who are caregivers should ensure they are in the correct patient chart before initiating a portal connection.

Patient Control Over What Gets Imported

When connecting a portal, the patient chooses which health resources to share. For example, they may import:

Problems
Allergies
Prescriptions
Vitals
Encounters
Lab results
Clinical notes
Other available records

Some patients may choose to share all resources, while others may select only specific categories. Imported data is visible:

In the SigmaMD EMR (for clinicians)
In the SigmaMD patient portal app (for the patient)

How to Identify Imported Data

On the patient chart, each health resource includes a Source column. This displays the name of the originating institution (e.g., hospital or health system).

Security and Privacy

Rest assured, the imported health data is encrypted for your security.
You can stop sharing your external health data with SigmaMD at any time by disconnecting the patient portal.

Connection Duration & Data Retention

How Long Does the Connection Stay Active?

During connection, the patient selects how long access remains active.

Some institutions allow connections up to one year.
Others allow shorter durations.
The duration options are determined by the originating institution.

If the selected duration is one month or longer, SigmaMD refreshes connected data automatically every 14 days while access remains active.

Does Imported Data Expire?

No. Once data is imported into SigmaMD, it remains in the patient's chart indefinitely. Any information shared in the chart, including vaccines, stays there even after the sharing period ends — there is no need to take any additional action to retain it.

When a connection or sharing period expires:

No new data syncs from the connected portal.
Previously imported records remain in the chart, fully intact.

The only way imported data leaves the chart is if the patient disconnects the portal and chooses to delete it. See Disconnecting a Portal below.

Disconnecting a Portal

Disconnecting a Connected Portal

Patients manage their own portal connections from the SigmaMD patient app. From a connected portal, the patient can tap Remove to disconnect it. When they do, they choose what happens to the data that was already imported:

Remove Portal and Keep Data — the connection ends and no new data syncs, but every record imported so far stays in the patient's chart.
Remove Portal and Delete Data — the connection ends and every record imported from that portal is removed from the chart.

Disconnecting a portal is always initiated by the patient. Clinicians can't disconnect a portal or clear imported data on a patient's behalf.

What "Delete Data" Removes

Choosing Remove Portal and Delete Data removes only the information that came from that external portal, including:

Problems, allergies, and medications
Vitals, encounters, and lab results
Clinical notes and other imported records

Data your practice entered directly into the chart is never affected — only records sourced from the disconnected portal are removed.

Deletion runs in the background, so imported records may take a short time to fully clear from the chart.