FAQs related to Privacy

Health care providers can view the medical records of their patients. These providers may include:

• medical doctors
• medical staff
• pharmacists
• care managers
• dentists
• mental health providers
• home health care nurses
• physical therapists
• emergency medical services providers
• other health care professionals covered under HIPAA.  

Information is also available to authorized administrative staff in organizations that provide health care, to staff at the Vermont Department of Health for public health purposes, and to staff at public and private health insurance providers.

VITL, the organization that operates the Vermont Health Information Exchange, uses three core strategies to ensure that individual medical records in the Information Exchange are only accessed by health care professionals for purposes of providing care.

• VITL has a training program for participating health care organizations, detailing appropriate use of the Vermont Health Information Exchange.
• VITL ensures that there are warnings and notifications in place to remind users about appropriate use. 
• VITL has established an auditing program to identify potential misuse of the system, including conducting routine audits of user activity in the Vermont Health Information Exchange. All emergency record access requests are audited.