GET THE MOST OUT OF THE HIE’S SERVICES

Learn how HealthInfoNet can provide better, easier, and safer health data services to your organization.

Your Questions

At HealthInfoNet, our mission is to improve the quality, safety, and coordination of patient care. To achieve this objective, it is absolutely crucial that patients receiving care across the state understand and trust our services.

patient communications

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS about your healthinfonet record

  • Patient demographics, insurer, primary care provider
  • Visit history
  • Laboratory and microbiology results
  • Radiology reports
  • Adverse reactions/allergies
  • Prescription medication history
  • Diagnosis/conditions/problems (primary and secondary)
  • Immunizations
  • Dictated/transcribed documents like hospital discharge summaries and provider visit notes
  • Vital signs 

**Please note: Your original medical record at your provider’s office is not being replaced with this information; it will be maintained just as it has always been.

You may have records dating back to as early as December 2008 because this is when many Maine health care organizations started participating in the HIE. The timing is different for each provider. If you have questions, please ask your provider when they first started sending information to HealthInfoNet.

Please ask your doctor’s office or hospital if they are a participating member of HealthInfoNet.

Only authorized users with protected login identification and unique passwords can use HealthInfoNet’s portal. This may include a doctor, nurse, medical assistant, pharmacist, and/or clinical staff member involved in your care. Before any user can view your record they must confirm they are involved in your health care and have a need to see your information.

HealthInfoNet keeps track of everyone who accesses your record, when they accessed it, and what information they viewed. You can request an audit report of this information at any time.

No. Your information will be included when you visit a participating doctor or hospital. There is no cost to the patient.

You can opt-out by filling out an opt-out form, over the phone during regular business hours at 207-541-9250 or 1-866-592-4352, or through mail by filling out and mailing the form available at your provider’s office to HealthInfoNet. Important notice: when you opt-out out your information will be removed from the HIE, meaning if you decide to opt back in at a later date, participating health care professionals will not be able to see your historical health information.

You will receive a confirmation email or letter after you opt-out. Please note that HealthInfoNet will still host your demographic information in the HIE (e.g., name and date of birth) to ensure none of your health information is included in the future.

If you opt-out and later decide to have your information included, you will need to fill out the opt-in form or call HealthInfoNet to do this over the phone. Your medical record in HealthInfoNet will only contain health information created after you decided to opt back into the system. You will then need to separately choose to include mental health and HIV information as explained above. You can also reverse your consent to include your mental health and/or HIV information. This can be done on the same form you filled out to consent to sharing this information.

Yes. If you have been treated by a mental health care provider or for HIV/AIDS, this information is only available in HealthInfoNet if you give permission or are experiencing a medical emergency. If you want providers (e.g., your primary care doctor or staff caring for you in the hospital) to see this information, you need to give them permission. You can do so by filling out the mental health opt-in form.

Yes, unless you have opted out of HealthInfoNet, Maine State law allows a provider to access your mental health and HIV/AIDS information in one of two situations. 1) If your provider believes it is necessary to prevent a serious threat to the health or safety of others. And 2) If your provider believes it is necessary to prevent or respond to imminent and serious harm to your health. If one of the above emergencies occurs, your provider will record why they are accessing your information in the system and then will be able to view your mental health and/or HIV during that emergency only. These legal provisions are included in 34-B MRSA 1207(1)(I) and 5 MRSA 19203(11).
Security tests are performed on an ongoing basis, to make sure that the records remain secure. Information is always encrypted and sent over private and secure computer connections. Click here for more information about our privacy and security policies and practices.
HealthInfoNet (HIN) is a Maine-based nonprofit organization that has been around since 2006. Learn more about our company.

No. Participation is voluntary for patients and their providers. Your choice to opt-out will not affect your ability to receive medical care.

Information used to identify patients in the system is: name, date of birth, sex, address, Medical Record Number (used by your provider), and Social Security Number. Your Social Security Number is never shared and is not visible to HealthInfoNet users.  

Only providers who are participating in HealthInfoNet can access and include information in the system. If your provider does not participate in HealthInfoNet, they will continue to update your medical record in their own system, and they will share your medical records as they always have (e.g., mail, email, fax). The goal is that all providers in Maine will participate in the future.

Your HealthInfoNet record includes information created by the health care providers caring for you. If you know of an error, please let your provider know so they can update the information. Once they do this, it will be automatically updated in HealthInfoNet.

HealthInfoNet’s system is not set up for patient access. However, you can review your HealthInfoNet record with your provider if you like. 

No. HIPAA allows us to share your information with your other treating providers when information is used to support treatment. In its contract with participating organizations HealthInfoNet is defined as a business associate under HIPAA. This allows HealthInfoNet to act as a “virtual medical record department” to collect and store medical records and allows authorized providers to review and upload records. Having a third party manage medical records is common practice.   

HealthInfoNet must follow all state and federal health record privacy laws, including HIPAA. These laws require HealthInfoNet and/or your provider to inform you if there is a breach of your personal health information. If you feel your HealthInfoNet record has been inappropriately accessed, please contact us.