Understanding Health Information Organizations
What is an HIO?
A Health Information Organization (HIO) is a group of healthcare facilities established to help patients and their authorized healthcare providers, treating the same patient, share — or exchange — relevant healthcare information. A health information exchange helps ensure that only patients and caregivers who are authorized—including physicians, hospitals, labs, etc.—have secure, instant access to your vital medical information. This helps your caregiver have access to needed medical information to provide you with the best care possible.
What are the benefits of HIO to patients?
Historically, a major obstacle in care delivery has been untimely and limited access to patient medical information. Since most patients see multiple providers, their medical information has to be shared across different systems based on different technologies. These technical differences create barriers to both sharing and using information in a timely manner, resulting in delays, duplicated efforts and testing, potential errors, etc.
How is my medical information secured?
Protecting patient privacy is a top priority for Jersey Health Connect and access to patient data is strictly regulated. Many State and Federal laws set strict guidelines for protecting patient privacy. Additionally, Jersey Health Connect has internal requirements above and beyond those set by law.
Can I choose not to participate?
In the event that you are not comfortable with participating in Jersey Health Connect, you can choose to opt out. By doing so, your healthcare providers will not be able to access your health information through Jersey Health Connect.