UC San Diego Health Adopts SMART Health Card for Digital Vaccine Records

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UC San Diego Health is now offering a verifiable digital vaccine record to its patients who have or will receive a COVID-19 vaccine. These secure online records, otherwise known as a SMART health card, can be accessed directly from the MyUCSDChart patient portal.

“The SMART Health Card offers those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine or tests from UC San Diego Health an easy way to digitally share their health documentation,” said Christopher Longhurst, MD, chief information officer at UC San Diego Health. “As an alternative to the paper card, the SMART Health Card cannot be lost or damaged. It is secure and protects the privacy of patient information.”

UC San Diego Health is the first health system in the U.S. to adopt the SMART Health Card for direct patient access. Patients and employees of UC San Diego Health have access to the new verification system as well as members of the public who utilized a UC San Diego vaccination or testing station and who signed up for a MyUCSDChart account.

UC San Diego Health now offers a verifiable digital vaccine record to its patients.

The information contained in the digital vaccine record follows all HIPAA privacy guidelines. Patients can use the digital vaccine record for medical purposes or to verify their vaccination status to safely return to work, school and travel.

“The SMART Health Card is the same specification used by the State of California and will work in concert with the state’s system,” said Longhurst. “This system is also being used by a large number of organizations across the U.S. and is rapidly becoming the standard for digitally verifiable vaccine records.”

The digital vaccine record was designed through a collaboration with VCI, a coalition of public and private organizations working to standardize digital verification of clinical information.

Through the MyUCSDChart portal, patients can either generate a QR code for vaccines and COVID test results or download a PDF record of vaccine doses that can be securely and privately shared with outside entities if a patient chooses.

UC San Diego Health patients can learn more about access their digital vaccine record through MyUCSDChart by visiting: health.ucsd.edu/coronavirus/Pages/vaccine.