Sharing Your Health Information
What You Should Know about Health Information Exchanges:
At Penn Medicine, your health information may automatically be shared through health information exchanges (HIEs) to help provide the best care for you. An HIE brings together health professionals for secure, electronic
sharing of your health information to help provide the best care
for you. For example, through HIEs, your healthcare providers
can have access to a more complete medical history to identify
treatment options and resources. They can also share your
health information with providers who care for you outside of
Penn Medicine, as well as with your insurance company for care
coordination and payment purposes.
How can HIEs lead to better care?
Sharing information through an HIE has been shown to:
- Help providers work together to make better decisions about your care
- Reduce the number of tests and procedures you may need
- Give providers secure access to your medical history, so you don't have to bring your records
Through HIEs, your healthcare providers may:
- Be notified when you are admitted to a hospital
- Have access to a more complete medical history to identify treatment options and resources
- Share your health information with providers who care for you outside of Penn Medicine
- Share information with your insurance company for care coordination and payment purposes
- Share information with public health officials when permitted by law
- Identify research studies for which you may be eligible
Opting out or back in
Your health information may automatically be shared unless you let us know that you do not want to participate in Penn Medicine's HIE activities.
If you would like to opt-out of the automatic sharing of your information, please do one of the following to have your Penn Medicine HIE system settings changed:
Patients can opt-out or back into Penn Medicine’s HIE activities at any time for any reason.
If necessary, even if you opt out of secure electronic sharing
through HIEs, your Penn Medicine providers will still be able to
share your health information outside Penn Medicine through
other means in the course of treating you.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact the Penn Medicine Privacy Office at 215-573-4492 or privacy@uphs.upenn.edu.