What are the parameters surrounding a patient request for their medical records? (please see details)

Asking for medical records is a minefield. I asked for copies of mine and was charged nore than $40 for copies of the x-rays, etc.

“Your ability to see your own medical records is probably the single most important right you have under HIPAA. Before HIPAA, your right to see or copy your medical records often depended on your state laws. Now, HIPAA sets the national standard, or ìfloor,î meaning that states can give you greater rights to access your medical information, but state laws cannot take away the fundamental access rights you have under HIPAA.”

“HIPAA only gives you the right to get copies of your records. Or, if you choose, you can ask to see your medical records or ask for a summary of your medical file.”

“HIPAA does not require a written request. However, if your provider requires a written request, you must be given notice of this. Some providers may have a form specifically for this purpose. Or, the provider’s privacy policy should tell you how to request your medical records.

Even if your doctor does not require a written request, it is always a good idea to put your request in writing. That way, you have a record of important details such as when you filed your request and the record you requested. For a sample letter to request a copy of your medical records, see www.privacyrights.org/Letters/medical2.htm."

“HIPAA says you can be charged a “reasonable, cost-based fee.” This means you can be charged for supplies and staff time for copying your records. You can also be charged for mailing records, if mailing is what you request. But, you should not be charged for time spent searching for your records. Nor, should a provider have a policy of charging all patients a flat fee.”

There is a lot of good information on HIPAA here.

WOW. THANK YOU.

But “minefield” sounds pretty daunting.

Anyone else with experiences to share either positive or negative?

Obviously I’m going to be spending some time reading up on the link.

But anyone else with some advice regarding minefield navigation? Don’t be shy now. Dish !

Remember, you’re anonymous, so by all means, speak freely

Basically, you have a right to all of your medical records, save for some mental health records (more on that in a sec). Or rather, a copy of them. But, the doctors offices have a right to charge you what it costs them to make you a copy, both in supplies and labor. Most won’t do this for smaller requests; the office I worked in didn’t start charging until you request 40 or more pages at a time, and then it was 10 cents per page after that 40. So, it’s pretty easy to get your entire medical record if you ask for it right when it’s happening – go in to get STD tested, ask them to immediately mail you the results, have your annual bloodwork tests, get a copy on your way out, go in for a sinus infection, ask them to mail you a copy of the progress report, etc. X-rays (the actual x-rays, not the x-ray report that’s printed on the same copier paper as everything else) are really the big expense, because the film they’re printed on is so damned expensive (though, more and more radiologists are moving towards a digital model, so that’ll save everyone money).

Mental health records: You have a right to see all of your official documentation, including tests (like if you get tested for learning disabilities), communication between mental health professionals (MHP) on you, and official progress notes. Official progress reports are what goes in your official file, and what the courts are sometimes allowed to subpenea (for this reason, it’s considered proper to keep these official progress notes purposefully vague). Now, so that MHPs can take notes on you without fear of you totally losing it when you see what they’ve written, and you can feel free to confide in them without worry that it will someday be used against you in court, MHPs can also take unofficial notes on you. These notes are not kept with your official file, usually kept in a seperate locked file cabinet. They are out-of-bounds for everyone else’s eyes but that MHP because they are technically that MHP’s subjective journal on you, much like a personal diary, meant to simply help them remember what they need to in order to be most helpful in your treatment. So, those journal-like unofficial notes are the only medical records you don’t have a legal right to see.

I believe, although you are the owner, the medical provider is allowed to charge a fee to provide the records to you.

I recently requested a copy of my records from a specialist’s office. They had a form for me to sign, and they told me it would be a $25 charge for copying. I expected a charge and didn’t mind paying in order to have full control of my own copy.

They copied everything in the file, so far as I could tell, beginning with records forwarded to them from the previous doctor and ending with a copy of my signed request form. The file included a copy of my own previous request for forwarding to that doctor. It looked complete to me.

It took about a week for the request to be fulfilled, and they called me when the file was ready for pickup. Nobody asked any questions. I wondered if they notified the doctor, but I didn’t ask.

@Aethelflaed (or whatever) I’m on mobile so auto @ doesn’t kick in. LOL.

I’m not in need of any mental health records (nonexistent) fortunately but appreciate the thorough info anyhow. Just in case I go totally bonkers in the future, ha ha. With the way things are going lately, you just never know…...

I already have my knee XRays on CD so I’m good on that. I can’t read them on my comp since it takes a specific medical software program. Presumably any future medical person can tho.

@ALL

I wish I could 10X lurve every one of you who answered so far cuz this has really been helpful.

I’m realizing in hindsight how fortunate I was to have such high quality care from several Doctors and specialists in the Philly area for well over 10 yrs.

I guess I took it for granted that I could find the same here. With only one notable exception I’m baffled by the sheer amount of dumbfucks i’ve encountered.

It can’t simply be my imagination that this area of Michigan really SUCKS bigtime for finding competent and comunnicative medical professional. In Philly you were tripping over competence all over the place. Hard to avoid it.

I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone here or something. So, if I don’t get a handle on all of what’s going on with me, I don’t have a lot of confidence that anybody else is up to the job in these here parts.

I really wasn’t expecting that. Caught me off guard.

Anyhow, ignore the pessimism for tonight. I’m just tired. But I have the uncomfortable hunch that my bleak outlook on the quality of healthcare in this part of Michigan may just be closer to actual reality. We shall see.

I’m usually an extreme optimist but so far experience points to me looking for a needle in a haystack to find quality healthcare around here. Didn’t used to be that way.

I don’t know much more than what has been said. Sorry.

In Ohio (where I worked in Medical Records), at least in my hospital, we would give patients a copy of all printed records if they made a request. Because they are actually the property of the hospital, Dr’s office, you need to pay for them. For us it usually took a week to ten days. We wouldn’t give out any xrays, but the results of most other tests were included