What is the HIE and CRISP DC?

CRISP is the designated Health Information Exchange (HIE) in the District of Columbia. An HIE is a way of instantly sharing health information among doctors’ offices, hospitals, labs, radiology centers, and other healthcare organizations.  The CRISP HIE network ensures you will receive the best and most efficient care possible by providing healthcare professionals with key information which will help them make quicker decisions and provide better treatments, resulting in more positive outcomes.

We will enable, support and promote whole-person care in the District of Columbia and the region by appropriately and securely sharing data to facilitate efficient care and improve health outcomes.

CRISP is securely connected to hospitals and other health care providers. These organizations decide what patient information they would like to share with other providers through CRISP. Some organizations don’t share any information and simply use CRISP to view information shared by other providers. All District of Columbia hospitals share some basic information about their patients such as when they have been admitted to or discharged from a hospital. Hospitals and other health care providers decide what other types of information such as lab results or hospital paperwork that they want to share. CRISP also shows your providers when other providers have signed up to be alerted about your hospital visits.

Doctors or your other health care providers can search CRISP to view your health information and can sign up to be contacted when you visit a hospital. CRISP may not have all your health information because some of your providers may not yet be sharing information with CRISP or maybe sharing only some of your data.

CRISP follows all state and federal privacy laws. Also, any provider that uses CRISP agrees to keep your data safe and not share it with anyone not allowed to see it. They agree to follow state and federal laws. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is the main law that governs health data sharing.

Keeping patient data safe is a CRISP priority. CRISP uses advanced security measures to keep your Healthcare data private and secure. These measures include consistent system checks, state-of-the-art monitoring tools, routine technology penetration testing, and next-generation audit capabilities. Additionally, CRISP relies on an advisory board composed of industry experts and patients to help shape our privacy and security programs. Combined, our programs help shape policies to keep your data safe and only seen by individuals who should see it to improve your care.

A Health Information Exchange may help doctors, hospitals and other health care providers provide faster, better care. CRISP offers fast access to your health data in a safe way. For example, if you were in an emergency room and unable to answer questions, the doctor or nurse could check CRISP to make sure you didn’t have allergies or medical conditions that would affect your treatment.

A Health Information Exchange may also lower health care costs by helping to prevent repeated tests because doctors can check CRISP to see results from previous tests or labs.

CRISP works hard to protect all your information and to make sure that only authorized health care providers can see your records. There are some risks to participating with CRISP. It is possible but rare that data could be shared by mistake with someone who wasn’t supposed to see it. CRISP uses many security and audit measures to make sure this doesn’t happen. If an unauthorized person does access your information, we will tell your doctor and he/she will notify you of what happened.

Your Health Info

What kinds of information does CRISP have about me?

Healthcare providers will share information about you through CRISP that they believe is important for your other healthcare providers to know about. CRISP may have access to Health Records from your doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies that you have visited. Among other things, providers may share your test results, radiology images, or notes about your care. They may also share a short summary containing important information. Certain sensitive information, such as addiction treatment details, can only be shared with your written consent.

If your healthcare provider shares information with CRISP or views your information in CRISP, they will let you know this through their Notice of Privacy Practices; a document that you get when you check-in for an appointment.

How is my data used?

CRISP follows all federal and state laws and will only share your data for the following purposes: healthcare treatment, care coordination, quality improvement, public health, and research. CRISP does not share any of your information for payment or marketing purposes.

CRISP only allows providers to use healthcare information that its Clinical Advisory Committee thinks will help improve healthcare. The purposes that have been approved for using data are listed below. If the Clinical Advisory Board decides to allow other uses of your information, those uses will be added to the list below.

Your Rights

What health information rights do I have?

State and federal laws give you specific rights about your health data and whether it is shared through CRISP. You have the right to:

  • Request a list of people who have viewed your healthcare information. To make the request, use the online form, or download the PDF.
  • Opt-out of CRISP. To make the request, use the online form.
  • Be notified if your information has been viewed by an unauthorized person.

How do I Opt-Out?

You decide if you want CRISP to share your health information. You can opt-out of CRISP at any time by clicking here. If you opt-out, doctors and nurses will not be able to search for your Health Records through the HIE, and your information will not be available in the event of an emergency. Your records will not be available for research or quality improvement. Any information that a doctor may have seen in CRISP and entered into your medical record before you opted out will stay in your medical record with that doctor but will not be shared through CRISP.