When a hospital wants to access patient records from other local hospitals, which technology should they use?

The appropriate technology for a hospital to access patient records from other local hospitals is a Health Information Exchange (HIE). HIE facilitates the sharing of health information across different healthcare organizations electronically. This system allows for interoperability among different health information systems, enabling the seamless exchange of patient data, which improves care coordination, enhances patient safety, and supports clinical decision-making.

By using HIE, hospitals can quickly and efficiently obtain access to relevant patient records from other institutions, ensuring that healthcare providers have complete and up-to-date information about a patient's medical history. This capability becomes particularly valuable in situations where a patient is receiving care from multiple providers or has transferred between various healthcare settings, as it provides a comprehensive view of the patient’s health information.

Other options like telehealth are primarily focused on virtual consultations between patients and providers, not on exchanging records. Patient-wearable devices are more about monitoring health metrics and do not facilitate data sharing between hospitals. Electronic health records (EHR) refer to a patient's records within a single facility and do not inherently provide the cross-organizational access that HIEs enable.