ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Clinicians and other health professionals use clinical data to make decisions about care. Clinical data are also used to support healthcare research and to inform health policy. Because patients receive care in a variety of locations, clinical data are oen needed in a location other than where the data were initially generated.1 For example, a patient may move to a new city and, to provide optimal care, the new clinical team may need access to the patient’s previous records. Or the patient is transferred to a new care setting as part of his or her care continuum; for example, the patient may be transferred from an acute care setting to a nursing home, or the patient may be referred from a primary care provider to a specialist for a consultation. Or, an emergency department physician caring for a patient who is unable to provide a history may wonder whether the patient has received care elsewhere that is relevant to the current situation.2
