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Health Information Exchanges

Better Communication for Better Care

Sharing Your Health Information

What You Should Know about Health Information Exchanges:

At Good Shepherd Penn Partners, 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 Good Shepherd Penn Partners, 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 Good Shepherd Penn Partners’ 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 Good Shepherd Penn Partners HIE system settings changed:

Patients can opt-out or back into Good Shepherd Penn Partners’ HIE activities at any time for any reason.

If necessary, even if you opt out of secure electronic sharing through HIEs, your Good Shepherd Penn Partners providers will still be able to share your health information outside Good Shepherd Penn Partners through other means in the course of treating you.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact the GSPP Privacy Office at (484) 866-7949 or by e-mail at [email protected].