Specialist Referrals

After seeing a primary care provider at SHWB, they may determine that you need to see a specialist for more thorough evaluation and/or testing. As a courtesy to our students, we have an insurance/referral coordinator who can assist you with this process if needed.

What you will need

  • Insurance card
  • Referral form

Patient Responsibility

  • Ensure that the service and provider is covered by your insurance plan, prior to an appointment being made.
  • Pay fees not covered by your health insurance.
  • Contact specialist/provider 24 hours in advance if you need to cancel/reschedule.

Tips for Using Your Insurance to Identify a Specialist and Schedule an Appointment

  • Call your insurance company (the number is usually located on your insurance card) or look at your insurance company’s website for providers who are “in-network” with your insurance.
  • Search by type of specialist and desired location (ZIP code) to obtain a list of providers.
  • Ask the insurance company what your copay/deductible will be for the visit, so that you are prepared for that fee when you arrive at the visit.
  • When you call the specialist’s office, be prepared to explain the reason you would like an appointment. Have your insurance information and calendar ready.
  • For some specialties, there can be several months’ wait to get an appointment. If this happens, you can take the appointment time that they give you, and ask to be put on their cancellation list, so that they can call you if something becomes available sooner. You could then call another provider on your list to see if they have better appointment options.
  • Consider asking the following questions when scheduling:

-What should I bring to the appointment?

-Do I need to fill out forms ahead of time? If so, how do I get those forms?

-What is their cancellation policy (in case something conflicts with that time closer to the visit)?

  • Realize that you may occasionally have to miss a class or work for an appointment, if there are no other good times or you need to be seen ASAP.
  • If the office asks you for supporting documentation for the reason of your appointment, ask your SHWB provider to send that information. You will need to give us the name of the specialist, their fax number, the date of your appointment and the records they are requesting.

Privacy of Medical Information

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), implemented Federal privacy protections for individually identifiable health information.

The HIPAA Privacy Rule establishes national standards to protect individuals’ medical records and other individually identifiable health information (collectively defined as “protected health information”). The Rule requires appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy of health information and sets limits and conditions on the uses and disclosures that may be made without an individual’s authorization. The Rule also gives individuals rights over their protected health information, including rights to examine and obtain a copy of their health records, to transmit records to a third party, and to request corrections.

The combined regulation text of all HIPAA Administrative Simplification Regulations found at 45 CFR 160, 162, and 164 is available to read on the HHS.gov website.

Johns Hopkins is committed to patient and health plan member privacy and believes it is critical to providing quality health care. Please call 410-614-9900 to reach the Johns Hopkins Privacy Office.

SHWB Primary Care uses an electronic medical record (EMR) separate from the Johns Hopkins Health System. The Johns Hopkins Health System utilizes an EMR called Epic and a patient portal called MyChart.