Re: Federal Laws regarding patient medical records release

[Guest guest]

Hi Amy,

I'm not an attorney, but I'm familiar with HIPAA & my insurance license is still

valid. (For a little while, anyway.)

It is my opinion that DH should provide you with this data. You have a right to

view & receive a copy of all information in your medical file, even if it comes

from other sources, i.e. labs, doctors, hospitals. The principle involved here

is that you have the right to view and CORRECT information in a specific

provider file, including information from other sources. If they prohibit you

from seeing all the information they have in their medical file for you, it

impedes your ability to correct or augment their data. They have a right to

charge you for making copies and they can withhold the data under a few specific

circumstances, i.e. the info includes psychotherapy notes or they think it will

endanger someone. If they decline to provide you with the information, they

must do it in writing and you have the right to appeal. Specific language from

the Federal website is below. I would recommend that you kindly place your

request to the medical

records department in WRITING. You may also want to note that you are

requesting this information in order to review your DH medical file for

completeness and accuracy, which is a consumer right guaranteed to you under

Federal HIPAA legislation, Section 164.524. Hope that helps!

Here is the intent of the law:

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/consumer_rights.pdf

Ask to see ad get a copy of your health records:

You can ask to see and get a copy of your medical record and other health

information. You may not be able to get all of your information in a few special

cases. For example, if your doctor decides something in your file might endanger

you or someone else, the doctor may not have to give this information to you.

- In most cases, your copies must be given to you within 30 days, but this can

be extended for another 30 days if you are given a reason.

- You may have to pay for the cost of copying and mailing if you request copies

and mailing.

Have corrections added to your health information:

You can ask to change any wrong information in your file or add information to

your file if it is incomplete. For example, if you and your hospital agree that

your file has the wrong result for a test, the hospital must change it. Even if

the hospital believes the test result is correct, you still have the right to

have your disagreement noted in your file.

In most cases the file should be changed within 60 days, but the hospital can

take an extra 30 days if you are given a reason.

Here is addl info:

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/AdminSimpRegText.pdf (page 74-75)

[Guest guest]

Wow.... I bet you scored rather well on your insurance test.

Good Answer from . I would guess the reason your new Doc

didn't want to give you the copies was the hassle and disruption of

making photo copies in the office and not being able to recoup cost

associated with that time.

My prolo doctor will only give you a copy of the last visit with out

going thru the whole release process.

ps I haven't forgoten about Lunch- I am having alot more energy

since I started wearing AFOs -I am hoping to have more time in the

coming months.

[Guest guest]

In regards to what has been said about medical records, the DR does not control

medical releases, the billing department and records department has control and

they can also charge you for copies of medical records as far as insurance

company. They are considered third party and can get medical record without a

release. HIPPA controls all privacy of records.

Any issue with them can be resolve by read HIPPA reg. Thank you.

Thorgrimsen