# Can records go directly to another Korean hospital?

> Institution-requested transfers and a patient’s transfer request have separate provisions, consent rules and procedural conditions.

Article 21-2 addresses another provider’s request; Article 21-3 addresses a transferring patient’s request.

Written by the Girokdari Health Records Study Group editorial team on October 29, 2026. Canonical address: https://medicalrecordsguide.org/articles/hospital-to-hospital.

## Which route governs hospital record transfers?

Article 21-2 addresses another provider’s request; Article 21-3 addresses a transferring patient’s request.

Article 21-2 concerns requests from another medical professional or institution head to confirm records or transmit copies and clinical-course opinions. Article 21-3 allows the patient transferring to another institution to request all or part of their records be sent there.

These are related handover routes with different starting requests. Identify the sending institution, the receiving institution and who is making the request before using a procedure or timing rule.

A personal copy can be carried by a patient, while an institutional transmission has an identified receiving medical institution. These arrangements can concern similar records without being the same legal request. The current consent form explicitly offers a transmission choice and receiving-institution field. That supports identifying the intended route rather than assuming that any record request is a transfer under Article 21-3. An insurer or a general storage service is not silently substituted for the receiving institution described there.

**Three transfer situations**

| Route | Initiator | Timing scope |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Article 21-2(1) | Another provider’s request | Consent and stated exceptions |
| Article 21-2(2) | Emergency transfer | Without delay |
| Article 21-3/Rule 13-5 | Patient transferring institution | Five days unless special circumstances |

## When is consent needed for hospital record transfers?

Article 21-2 requires patient or guardian consent for the specified provider request, with the stated exceptions.

The provider-request paragraph requires consent from the patient or guardian. Its proviso addresses unconsciousness, emergency patients or inability to obtain consent because no guardian is available.

Those exceptions cannot be turned into routine permission to share records without consent. The request concerns the receiving provider’s clinical purpose under that provision. It does not create general access for an unrelated recipient merely because transmission is technically possible.

## How do patients request hospital record transfers?

A patient transferring to another institution may request the records be sent there and may use a representative.

Article 21-3 sets the patient-request right and prohibits refusal without a justifiable reason. Rule 13-5 identifies relatives and patient-designated persons as possible representatives and applies the Article 13-3 procedures to transmission requests.

This connects identity, relationship, consent and authorization checks with the transfer request. It does not require a preparation website to collect those documents. The current consent form contains a separate transmission-to-another-institution choice.

## What does the five-day limit mean for hospital record transfers?

Rule 13-5 uses five days for the patient-requested transfer route unless special circumstances apply.

Rule 13-5(3) states the period for sending records to the institution to which the patient is transferring. The special-circumstances qualification belongs to the rule. It is not a fixed delivery promise for every document a patient wants before leaving Korea.

A new opinion, translation, personal collection or overseas system connection is not assigned a five-day preparation time by this statement. Identify the legal request route and confirm practical receipt arrangements separately.

The rule expresses a period measured from the patient’s or representative’s request and retains the special-circumstances condition. The calendar tool does not determine whether a request was legally received or whether such circumstances exist. It also does not convert the period into hospital business days or a guaranteed arrival date abroad. These missing facts are why a displayed date gap cannot be treated as a legal deadline decision for an individual transfer.

**Transfer rule and other preparation**

| Task | Applies as five-day rule? | Check |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Patient-requested transfer to receiving institution | Within stated route and qualification | Sending/receiving institutions |
| Translation/new opinion | No common deadline inferred | Issuing institution |
| Overseas connection/delivery | No universal service promise | Actual recipient and sender |

## How are emergency hospital record transfers treated?

Article 21-2(2) requires prompt transmission of records made on arrival when an emergency patient is transferred.

The emergency-transfer paragraph is separate from the ordinary provider-request and patient-request routes. It concerns continuity of urgent care and the copies described in that paragraph. It should not be presented as a consumer option for avoiding all document checks in routine collection.

Nor should the five-day patient-request rule be used to delay the statutory emergency handover. A preparation guide does not classify a patient as an emergency case or direct the clinical transfer decision.

## How does the exchange service support hospital record transfers?

KHIS describes electronic exchange between participating institutions with the required patient agreement.

KHIS describes the Health Information Exchange service for records to be shared electronically and referenced by clinicians. Its public information describes portal identity verification and consent, or consent submitted through a participating institution.

The service route and the legal basis should be read together. Participation and available material must be checked rather than inferred from a hospital’s name. The reviewed page does not establish universal foreign-hospital compatibility or automatic English conversion.

## What must be confirmed before hospital record transfers abroad?

Confirm the actual receiving route, requested material and language; domestic rules do not establish every overseas service.

The recipient can identify needed record categories, dates, language and medium. The issuing institution can confirm its available request and transmission methods. The handbook permits various delivery methods after lawful-request checks, but that is not a universal overseas service commitment.

A statutory right to request records and a particular international technical connection are different issues. Keep the record range and consent purpose specific without submitting records to an unrelated guide.

For an overseas recipient, the practical questions include the record categories it needs, the medium it can receive and the language it can use. The Korean issuer can answer a different set of questions about available records and its transmission methods. The reviewed domestic statutes and KHIS page do not answer every international interoperability question. Their silence should not be turned into either a universal service promise or a blanket claim that an overseas request is impossible.

## What else do people ask about hospital record transfers?

### What should I check about hospital record transfers?

Article 21-2 addresses another provider’s request; Article 21-3 addresses a transferring patient’s request. Article 21-2 concerns requests from another medical professional or institution head to confirm records or transmit copies and clinical-course opinions.

### When is consent needed for hospital record transfers?

Article 21-2 requires patient or guardian consent for the specified provider request, with the stated exceptions. The provider-request paragraph requires consent from the patient or guardian.

### How do patients request hospital record transfers?

A patient transferring to another institution may request the records be sent there and may use a representative. Article 21-3 sets the patient-request right and prohibits refusal without a justifiable reason.

### What does the five-day limit mean for hospital record transfers?

Rule 13-5 uses five days for the patient-requested transfer route unless special circumstances apply. Rule 13-5(3) states the period for sending records to the institution to which the patient is transferring.

### How are emergency hospital record transfers treated?

Article 21-2(2) requires prompt transmission of records made on arrival when an emergency patient is transferred. The emergency-transfer paragraph is separate from the ordinary provider-request and patient-request routes.

## What should you read next?

- [Which medical records should you request before flying home?](https://medicalrecordsguide.org/articles/before-flying-home)
- [Can Korean medical records be issued in English?](https://medicalrecordsguide.org/articles/english-records)
- [Korea medical-record request checklist](https://medicalrecordsguide.org/tools/records-checklist)
- [Korea medical-record departure timeline](https://medicalrecordsguide.org/tools/timeline)

## Where do these numbers come from?

- [Medical Service Act, Article 21-2: transmission of clinical records](https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsSideInfoP.do?docCls=jo&joBrNo=02&joNo=0021&lsiSeq=290667&urlMode=lsScJoRltInfoR) - Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center
- [Medical Service Act, Article 21-3: patient requests for record transmission](https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsSideInfoP.do?docCls=jo&joBrNo=03&joNo=0021&lsiSeq=290667&urlMode=lsScJoRltInfoR) - Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center
- [Enforcement Rule, Article 13-5: record-transmission request procedures](https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsSideInfoP.do?docCls=jo&joBrNo=05&joNo=0013&lsiSeq=286963&urlMode=lsScJoRltInfoR) - Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center
- [Enforcement Rule, Article 13-3: requirements for record requests](https://www.law.go.kr/lsLinkCommonInfo.do?chrClsCd=010202&lsJoLnkSeq=1028280683) - Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center
- [Form 9-2: consent to access, copies and transmission](https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/flDownload.do?gubun=&flSeq=164913939&bylClsCd=110202) - Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center
- [Health Information Exchange system](https://www.khis.kr/menu.es?mid=a10207000000) - Korea Health Information Service
- [2022 handbook on medical institutions and medical corporations](https://www.yeonsu.go.kr/clinic/institution/hospital_notice.asp?page=v&seq=162) - Yeonsu-gu Public Health Center