It is very advantageous for you and your family to have your
provider see all of the medications, illnesses and
conditions, allergies and reactions, lab tests,
immunizations and other medical information during your
medical visits. This is especially critical in
emergencies. If your provider does not have complete health
information, you are more likely to have a medication error
or bear extra expense and time to have procedures repeated
unnecessarily.
In this day and age you probably have many health records. These
might be at various physicians, laboratories, hospitals,
pharmacies, VA, tribal health, specialists and other providers.
In the best of all worlds, every time you visit one of these
providers that information would be available to others that are
also treating you. But, using faxes, letters and phone calls is
very time consuming and difficult. SMRTNET (Secure Medical
Records Transfer Network) is a secure health information
exchange designed to improve your medical safety, save you time,
and potentially decrease some of your medical expenses.
SMRTNET securely combines health information from disconnected
paper and electronic medical records into a single view. So,
only providers who are actively treating you can access your
health information. No one other than providers who are
currently treating you is allowed to see that information.
SMRTNET exchanges health information only between providers who
are caring for you under the same state and federal laws which
regulate the faxing, mailing and electronic exchange of your
medical information. All of these services are offered to
patients at no charge. Anyone who does not want their SMRTNET
registered health providers to use SMRTNET for them can opt out
at any time. SMRTNET was created by a federal grant as a
research project and is overseen by a public non profit body.
SMRTNET also enhances prescription safety by providing
electronic prescribing technology to physicians. EPrescribing
ensures the spelling of a particular medication is correct, the
dosage is accurate, identifies the best and least expensive
medication available for your health needs and assesses whether
any medication or conditions you have do not combine well with
other medications you are taking.
