What Is Electronic Patient Release of Information Form?

Electronic patient release of information forms is a new thing. Yet don't worry. They will not steal your identity or anything like that. They're just here to help you share your PHI with other health entities when necessary. These forms are not all-out information release consents but rather specific consents providing patient authorization to divulge their electronic health records (EHR) to designated agencies on an as-needed basis. These forms also designate what information can be released. So there's no need to fear about your EHR being out in the wild. It'll only go where it needs to go and when it needs to go there. Electronic patient release of information forms includes patient signatures that authorize treating health entities to release protected health information (PHI) to other health entities. In the digital age, electronic signatures are increasingly required. It's hard to believe that just a few years ago, we had to wait for our doctors to hand us our health records on paper. Now, with EHRs, we can access them ourselves and send them straight to our smartphones! But with this new technology comes new problems. For example: now that our health data is accessible by anyone with a smartphone, you must know exactly how your health information will be used. Health data is considered either general medical information or protected health information (PHI). PHI is any information in your medical record that identifies you as an individual (like your name or social security number), or that could be used by someone else to identify you (like your date of birth). General medical information includes all other facts about your treatment that do not fall into either category. All hospitals are required by law to obtain written consent from their patients before sharing PHI with any outside entity, including other hospitals and third-party payers like Medicare/Medicaid/Cigna etc. unless the hospital obtains one of the limited exceptions allowed by HIPAA.