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Upper Midwest Health Information Exchange (UM HIE)

State Health Policy Consortium to Advance Interstate Exchange of Patient Health Records

The UM HIE State Health Policy Consortium was created in 2010 and funded by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to find ways to address barriers to exchanging patient health information across state borders. The UM HIE Consortium, led by Minnesota and including representatives from Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, focused on how to make it easier to accomplish provider-to-provider exchange of patient health information for treatment purposes, given the differences in consent-to-disclosure laws in these five states. The collaborative developed three tools to:

Help health care providers identify when patient consent is required in a particular state; and

Provide a streamlined and uniform process for obtaining patient consent and exchanging patient health information between health care providers in different states.

UM HIE Tools for Exchanging Patient Health Information Across State Borders

Tool	Description
Consent Matrix (PDF 139KB/ 2pg)	The health care provider uses this matrix to determine if patient consent is required to release health information.
Common Consent Form (Word 35KB/ 3pg)	The patient completes and signs this form; instructions are included.
Request for Health Information Exchange (Word 23KB/ 1pg)	The health care provider completes this form to identify the specific health information being requested.

Endorsement of UM HIE Tools

The Minnesota Commissioner of Health encourages health care providers, hospitals, HIE service providers and other entities providing cross-border care to consider using the UM HIE Common Consent Form and other tools to obtain patient health information when needed.

Letter from the Minnesota Commissioner of Health (PDF: 80KB/ 1pg)

Statement of Endorsement of the UM HIE Tools (PDF: 171KB/ 2pg)

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