Account Sign Up Instructions for Public Health

Table Of Contents Create Your Account
Configure for Free Use
Configure for Regional Extended Tools

The instructions below include step by step guidance on how to Sign Up for your PPT Public Health account. Instructions for Provider account setup and the transmission of HL7 data are presented separately for providers.

Create Your Account

• Visit publicpandemictools.com and click Sign Up. The link will be on the main menubar.
• Select your geographic region.
• Select your Time Zone. Dates and times are adjusted accordingly while you are logged in.
• Type the Email address of the authorized contact. The email address is also the account user name and must be unique in your region. Prefer an email address of the IT staff responsible for reports to public health at the public health Internet domain name.
• Type your Password. Type your password again in the Confirm box.

  Note: We do not have access to your password. If it's forgotten, you will have to reset and change it.

• Under Sign Up As, select Public Health Authority.
• Type the public facing name of the regional health agency, for example "California Department of Public Health", and the mailing address and phone. The information is used to verify your identity and, like all personally identifiable account data, is not disclosed to third parties without your consent. We will not use information you give us to contact you unless needed to complete a request by you or to verify your identity.
• Read and accept the Terms of Use and click Continue.
• Check your email address for the verification link. Type the verification code included in the email into the web page and Verify. Your account is now created.

Configure for Free Use

• Guidance and Resource Links. Select Guidance on the menu banner. Type the resource and guidance links to appear with test results for each topic. Links are displayed with all test results unless a testing provider supplies different links. You can opt to always display your links in Profile.
• Authorized User Contact. Select Profile on the menu banner. Scroll down to the Update button and click. Type the authorized user contact name, phone, and email address. This will be the contact person for any data transmission errors that require immediate attention. The information is private and used only to maintain the service.
• Support PIN. Select Settings on the menu banner. Type a Support PIN that can be used by technical to verify your identity if necessary.
• Patient Permissions. Select weather you have permission (under laws of the region) for each disclosure option. If not, follow-ups will be limited to the close contacts of reporting patients who have given permission in their testing provider or health care service agreement or in the Profile area of this service.
• TraceMe Contact Tracing Extension (Optional). Select TraceMe Ext on the main menubar and type the URL to your extended resolution CGI service. See the documentation to learn more and for implementation details. This can be setup later by IT staff.

Free services are now configured.

Configure for Regional Extended Tools

First configure for free services then continue here after Login.

• Subscribe. Select Profile from the main menu then select Extended Tools Subscription from the Profile page index at top. Click the Subscribe button. Scroll down and estimate your weekly OBX/RXA message count. Read and Accept the Subscription Agreement. Select a payment option and complete the dialog. When done, you will be transferred to your Profile. When status is updated with a subscription summary, the subscription is available for use.
• Staff Account. Follow-ups and report monitoring by staff. Scroll down on the Profile page and click the Update Profile button. Scroll to Staff Account and type a staff account password. Logins with the account user name and staff password will cause the service to display only features appropriate for staff. Scroll down to Save.
• Activities. PIN Investigation, Contact Tracing Follow-up, and Reports are currently available. Follow instructions on the service web page for details about usage.
• Email List for Reports. Scroll down on the Profile page to Email List for Reports and press Update Configuration. Select to receive reports once per week or daily and which reports to send. Type recipient email addresses one per line and Save.

Related Links

PPT HL7 Guide