RWJBarnabas Health Health Information Exchange (HIE)

Many health care providers currently rely on slow, inconvenient methods such as telephone, fax, mail and courier to obtain their patients’ health information. These methods are often time-consuming and can result in health information being lost, misplaced or arriving too late. Health Information Exchange (HIE) is the secure, rapid, electronic transfer of your health information among the providers that treat you. Since each provider holds a different portion of your health information, an HIE gives your treating providers a more complete picture of your health record.

What is a HIE?

RWJBarnabas Health’s Health Information Exchange (RWJBH HIE) allows your RWJBarnabas Health-affiliated hospitals, doctors and other health care providers to electronically share your protected health information (PHI) with each other in a secure, timely manner. For example, this health information could include reports about your illnesses, injuries, allergies, medicines and test results.

How will my information be used?

Protected Health Information (PHI) about you that is obtained through the RWJBarnabas Health HIE will be used for treatment only. Policies that follow federal and state law limit how your information can be used or disclosed through the RWJBarnabas Health HIE. The privacy notices distributed by each individual provider explains how those providers use the PHI that those providers have and collect about you independent of the HIE.

How does the HIE work?

In order for electronic protected health information (EPHI) to be obtained by your provider (e.g., your X-Ray results electronically sent back from Radiology to the physician who ordered them), EPHI is stored in, and may pass through, the RWJBarnabas Health HIE secure server. When participating in the RWJBarnabas Health HIE, only authorized health care providers will have access to the EPHI stored in that server.

Who can access my records through the RWJBarnabas Health HIE?

Only health care providers who are participants in the RWJBarnabas Health HIE, and their associated staff, who are treating you, are specifically given rights to access your PHI through the RWJBarnabas Health HIE.

How secure is the RWJBarnabas Health HIE?

Special security features, including data encryption and audit logs, are used to keep your information secure and help prevent your records from being accessed by anyone who is not supposed to have access to your information.

Even with all these security protections in place, if we discover breaches of your information through the RWJBarnabas Health HIE, you will be notified, and the RWJBarnabas Health HIE and your participating health care provider will take steps to correct the problem.

What about my "sensitive" information?

Sensitive information in the HIE may include health information about you that is more protected under law, such as HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, behavioral and mental health information, and genetic testing. Our policies prohibit this sensitive information from being used for any reason other than treatment of you by your health care providers.

We take your privacy very seriously. The RWJBarnabas Health HIE has safeguards to ensure as best as possible that sensitive information is accessed only as permitted by law.

What can the HIE do for me?

Participating in an HIE- that is, consenting to share your health information with your health care providers offers major benefits to you and your family.

Benefits Include:

• Emergency Treatment. Medical staff immediately know about your allergies, health problems, medications, and prior visits, helping them care for you without delay.
• More complete and accurate information. HIE gives your health care providers greater access to the information needed to diagnose your health problems earlier. They will know more about you and your health history before they recommend treatment.
• Improved Care. Access to information about care you received elsewhere gives a better, more complete picture of your health and provides information needed to provide the best care possible. That means your care providers can make sure the treatment they give doesn't interact badly with other treatments you may be receiving. For example, when you can't remember what medications you are taking, HIE can make information about your conditions and medications available to your doctors, so they will know the right thing to do instead of doing something that might tbe harmful.

Other "Connected” HIEs

RWJBarnabas Health HIE will also be creating secure "connections" to other community-based HIE networks. For example, if you are being treated by two doctors - one who is in the RWJBarnabas Health HIE and another who participates in a different HIE - your two doctors could share your medical information through a secure connection between the two HIEs to better coordinate your care.

The RWJBarnabas Health HIE will not connect to another HIE unless it meets the RWJBarnabas Health HIE’s high standards for privacy and security.

Can I access my own medical records?

With the RWJBarnabas Health HIE, your records are only available to participating health care providers, for instance, the doctor who is treating you. If you want copies of your medical records, you should contact your health providers directly.

HIE Opt-out form (pdf)

Contact Us:

RWJBH Corporate HIM
Data Integrity Department
2 Crescent Place Oceanport, NJ 07757
E-mail: DataIntegrity@rwjbh.org

How do I sign up?

There is no need to do anything further. If you received treatment from an RWJBarnabas Health-affiliated hospital or affiliated physician office that participates in the RWJBarnabas Health HIE, then your health information is automatically stored in the RWJBarnabas Health HIE and will be made accessible to all RWJBarnabas Health HIE participants unless you decide to "Opt Out."

If you do not want your health information to be electronically accessed through the RWJBarnabas HIE, you must submit a completed RWJBarnabas Health HIE Opt-Out form (pdf).

Once you submit an HIE Opt-Out form, your information will not be accessible to anyone through the RWJBarnabas Health HIE, even in the case of an emergency, and your providers will need to share your information with each other in the same way that they have in the past, such as by telephone, fax, or mail.

If you previously submitted a RWJBarnabas Health HIE Opt-Out form but now have changed your mind, you must complete, sign, and submit the CANCELLATION OF PRIOR RWJBARNABAS HEALTH HIE OPT-OUT form (pdf), which will cancel your previous decision to opt out.

I still have questions. Whom do I contact?

If you have additional questions about the RWJBarnabas Health HIE that are not covered in this brochure, please contact the RWJBarnabas Health HIE at DataIntegrity@rwjbh.org.

DISCLAIMER: THIS PAGE IS BEING PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE STATEMENTS WE MAKE ON THIS PAGE DO NOT PROVIDE A WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. NONE OF RWJBARNABAS HEALTH, INC., OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATED HOSPITALS OR OTHER HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTY CAN GUARANTEE A SPECIFIC OUTCOME AS A RESULT OF ANY PERSON'S USE OR PARTICIPATION IN THE RWJBARNABAS HEALTH HIE, OR ANY OTHER HIE.