Clinical Context Object Workgroup (CCOW) Setup

Clinical Context Object Workgroup (CCOW) is an HL7 standard protocol that enables separate healthcare applications to synchronize in real-time so that each individual application refers to the same patient, encounter or user. This synchronization is called "Context Management." Context Management is a method for making separate clinical applications operate in a unified manner.

The CCOW protocol shares the name of the active user between different applications that are operating on the same computer. When CCOW is implemented, a user needs to log onto only one NextGen® Enterprise application. The other NextGen® Enterprise applications functions as if the user is logged onto them as well.

NextGen Healthcare supports the receiving and setting of ‘context’ at the following levels:

• User – Context is defined by mapping user records of perspective NextGen Healthcare and 3rd party applications.
• Patient – Context is defined by mapping NextGen’s MPI to an EMPI.

Note: When CCOW is enabled, a CCOW icon displays at the button of the screen. This icon indicates that no CCOW link is established with another application: . This icon indicates that a CCOW link is established: .