Med records

[Guest guest]

Also, an addendum to my last post about medical records. If you request your medical records, be as specific as possible about what you want, i.e., lab tests, clinic/office notes, op report, etc. If you get your records, and you know that there should be an op report or visit note for a particular day, go straight to that doc's office and tell them you are missing xyz and you are there to obtain a copy of that note, and that you will wait while the secretary makes the copy. e

[Guest guest]

Kathy,

Oh Archived, it seems more and more offices do that and far more quickly than we think. Then usually there is cost involved getting them released, or found, however you look at it.

For those of you in active care with a surgeon, ask everytime x-rays are taken for copies, get them on CD, or another hard copy. My doc's used me as a teaching case, and my X-rays. CT scans, MRI's moved back and forth between them, and poof were gone. Thankfully I had copies. Also know these doc's can move offices, and to different practices, and your x-rays can be left with the old practice, and that can be a nightmare to get them. My bet is probably most things get archived after three years or so. What does archived mean, stored somewhere else, or destroyed, or put onto CD, and stored off site.

Another suggestion is get to be pals with your doc's assistant, send thank you notes, believe me it helps, if they are fond of you, things get found, they help you out. I was applying for life insurance, and needed my medical records, and the office charged 35 bucks to me to get them for my application, I called Lee, Dr. Kumar's assistant, and she just copied them for me at no cost. I've found that a bit of praise to office staff, and believe me they get far too little of it, works in your behalf, good to have them on your side, so a thank you note here or there, a plate of cookies, some candy, works, did for me.

Kathy i'd send the assistant a flowery note, thanking her upfront for her help in this matter, before jumping on the" get it done" bandwagon, see if it helps. Ask what could be done to find them, and how you could help in the process. Sometimes you will get put off cause of time factors, takes time and energy to find these things, and they are more likely to do it for someone they like, than someone who yells at them. I give people a chance to be helpful before I slam them, and believe me I slam people when necessary.

You are intitled to your x-rays, they are needed, so get this office to tell you just what archived means for that office, on CD, filed off site, or destroyed.

Know I never got my past x-rays, surgical notes, anything from UCSF, after nearly 30 years, and archived, I got nothing, and still managed to have surgery, would have been nice to have them, but surgery still happened without them.

But, from this moment on, ask for copies of everything, and keep your own file, afterall it's to your benefit, even if there is cost involved.

Those of you having surgery, start a binder with everything concerning your surgery, office notes, surgical notes, authorizations, insurance approvals, billing, so it all together in one place. There will be glitches, and if everything is together, it's easy. Also if you talk to anyone, from the insurance company, the hospital, dr's offices, write who you spoke with name down, first and last, helps when anything goes wrong.

Hope this helps.

Colorado Springs

[ ] med records

i am having problem getting my surgeon's office to release my X-rays. does anyone have some advice? they keep telling me that they are archived. i don't believe them, since i was an active patient with ongoing care. do i need to get a lawyer involved?

[Guest guest]

good morning susan - i've been trying for 6 months. the office is in el paso, &

i'm now in california. the x-rays were taken when my dr was still in private

practise. about a month after my surgery, he joined a group. so the rcords guy

at the group told me, my pre-surgical films were in a warehouse. i have put in

several written requests, with no luck. i have always known that my

pre-surgical films were important. after alot of reading about revision

surgery, i now know how REALLY important my older films are. i fall into the

iatrogenic flatback category of having hyperlordosis before surgery. i now know

how important it is to a revision surgeon to be able to see the pre-surgical

lumber curve, in order to better judge necessary oseotomies in order to bring me

into alignment. after 6 months of trying, i am getting a little worried that my

older films might get destroyed because i'm no longer a patient. my last

surgery was in 2007, & my MRI's are from 2005, but my pre-surgical films are

from 2007.

...........................kathy

In , " Kirkaldie " <.Kirkaldie@...>

wrote:

>

> Kathy,

>

> Oh Archived, it seems more and more offices do that and far more quickly than

we think. Then usually there is cost involved getting them released, or found,

however you look at it.

>

> For those of you in active care with a surgeon, ask everytime x-rays are taken

for copies, get them on CD, or another hard copy. My doc's used me as a teaching

case, and my X-rays. CT scans, MRI's moved back and forth between them, and poof

were gone. Thankfully I had copies. Also know these doc's can move offices, and

to different practices, and your x-rays can be left with the old practice, and

that can be a nightmare to get them. My bet is probably most things get archived

after three years or so. What does archived mean, stored somewhere else, or

destroyed, or put onto CD, and stored off site.

>

> Another suggestion is get to be pals with your doc's assistant, send thank you

notes, believe me it helps, if they are fond of you, things get found, they help

you out. I was applying for life insurance, and needed my medical records, and

the office charged 35 bucks to me to get them for my application, I called Lee,

Dr. Kumar's assistant, and she just copied them for me at no cost. I've found

that a bit of praise to office staff, and believe me they get far too little of

it, works in your behalf, good to have them on your side, so a thank you note

here or there, a plate of cookies, some candy, works, did for me.

>

> Kathy i'd send the assistant a flowery note, thanking her upfront for her help

in this matter, before jumping on the " get it done " bandwagon, see if it helps.

Ask what could be done to find them, and how you could help in the process.

Sometimes you will get put off cause of time factors, takes time and energy to

find these things, and they are more likely to do it for someone they like, than

someone who yells at them. I give people a chance to be helpful before I slam

them, and believe me I slam people when necessary.

>

> You are intitled to your x-rays, they are needed, so get this office to tell

you just what archived means for that office, on CD, filed off site, or

destroyed.

>

> Know I never got my past x-rays, surgical notes, anything from UCSF, after

nearly 30 years, and archived, I got nothing, and still managed to have surgery,

would have been nice to have them, but surgery still happened without them.

>

> But, from this moment on, ask for copies of everything, and keep your own

file, afterall it's to your benefit, even if there is cost involved.

>

> Those of you having surgery, start a binder with everything concerning your

surgery, office notes, surgical notes, authorizations, insurance approvals,

billing, so it all together in one place. There will be glitches, and if

everything is together, it's easy. Also if you talk to anyone, from the

insurance company, the hospital, dr's offices, write who you spoke with name

down, first and last, helps when anything goes wrong.

>

> Hope this helps.

>

>

> Colorado Springs

> [ ] med records

>

>

>

> i am having problem getting my surgeon's office to release my X-rays. does

anyone have some advice? they keep telling me that they are archived. i don't

believe them, since i was an active patient with ongoing care. do i need to get

a lawyer involved?

>