I am in MI and have had about 3 or 4 different insurance companies in my life (parents, different insurance from different jobs). I just started a new job which I am pretty sure I wil be retiring from. I now have a new insurance provider and was wondering how hard it might be to get a copy of my medical history from the different doctors that are out there. I have a hiatal(sp?) hernia, which is genetic, and have had endoscopy(both top and bottom :eek: ) as well as a heart murmur. instead of doing all the testing over for a new insurance company, I was wondering if I can just walk into the doctors(that I remember) and ask for my records. Is this possible or should I just go through the tests again?
I would also like to hear anyone’s experiences that may have tried this so I know what to ask for if I can do it.
Disclaimer:
I am not looking for binding legal advise, I did not find anything in my search on the SDMB, etc…
If the doctors are still practicing, contact them. They may have the records; if not, they would have sent them to a depository where you can get them (for a fee).
I recently sneaked a peek at my charts while waiting for someone to come into the exam room. The nurse claimed that the insurance company wouldn’t like it if they knew, but it has nothing to do with them. The medical folks just didn’t want me getting scared or confused by anything I saw. Anyhow… You’re entitled to see your own records. Just be ready to pay.
Instead of just walking in and asking for them, it would be best to call, ask to speak to or leave a message for the Medical Records Department, saying that you’d like a copy of your records. Most offices aren’t going to drop everything to do the copying if you just walk in and ask.
Most offices I know of charge around $10 for the first page and 25-50 cents for each additional page.
Also, keep in mind that each doctor has the right to keep information from you if they believe that it’s not in your best interest to know it. I don’t know what that would be, but they do.
All you need to do is give you new doctor the names of your previous docs and they can get copies of the records. It will be the same for the insurance company if they need your records for some reason.
I suppose the patient would have to check the HIPAA rules to be sure… http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/
…but I still don’t see how you can legally be kept from knowing what’s in your own files.
You are wrong, trblmakr. As I said before, the patient owns the information in his or her records. I chose my words very carefully.
Yes, the physical papers belong to the physician. But the physician cannot refuse to give copies to the patient, or otherwise refuse to provide that information to the patient, because the data in the records belongs to the patient.
If you google “medical records” patient owns, you’ll see numerous cites for this proposition.
HIPPA laws were mostly created to protect information that is electronically transmitted. In regards to other uses they seem, IME, to be widely interpreted. I can only speak of my experience and the way my particular office (and every one that I’ve ever worked at) interprets them. If you came into my office demanding your chart right then and there you’d be bounced out. Any requests for medical records must be approved by our physicians.
Just to back up trublmaker. I work in a medical office too. The practice *owns * the records and the patient only has a *right * to copies of the record. The patient in no way owns that information. If they did they could walk in, ask to look at their chart and start writing in it or crossing out things they dont like. They can’t.
As for procedure: Ordinarily the process requires paperwork to be signed by the requesting patient, then the doctor reviews the record and the request before the records are mailed to the patient or faxed or whatever. We won’t turn down a request for copies of the records but we don’t usually accommodate walk-ins who just show up unless there’s a good reason for the short notice. AFAIK technically the doctors office has 30 days to respond although we try to do it as soon as we are able. Insisting on seeing them now because they’re your records will not get you anything but your visage burned into the staff’s memory as a giant pain in the butt. Copying records can take a lot of time and there are almost always higher priorities. (A busy medical office is just that - busy. I’m typically on hold for a pharmacy while booking an appointment while typing a letter with another call or two in the queue). Obviously it’s different if you need your records because you’re on your way to an emergency surgical consult or whatever (in which case we’ll probably have faxed them over anyway). But if it’s just because you want to have them expect a wait.
Also I was told at some point that you’re not allowed to charge patients to see their own records and we don’t (I don’t know if this is MA law or misinformation - I know HIPPA allows you to charge). We do charge third parties like lawyers offices and insurance companies (I’m sure the lawyers end up passing that fee on to the clients so word of advice request your own records don’t have your lawyer do it).
That’s all very well, but wouldn’t a new insurance agency want updated information provided by their doctors? Things medical, like all things, change with time.
I work as a paramedic, and we are required to give HIPPA sheets to every pt we come in contact with. HIPPA is primirally about electronic spread of information, but to does cover other issues with privacy.
In short, the records must be totally accessable to the patient. No one has any right to withhold any information from you that is in your medical record. For a reasionable fee you are entitled to a copy of those records. If there is something you believe to be incorrect in the records there is an appeal process to remove it.
IMHO there is nothing that would be in the patients best interst to not know about their own healthcare. Even the suggestion that there is, is just plain stupid.
My limited and cite-free impression was that this was mostly an issue in mental health care. Suspecting that you might be mentally ill and never going to get better is one thing. Reading in your file that you’re crazier than a loon and expected to off yourself in the next 30 days and your medication isn’t working is another. In some cases, it could give a sense of finality and futilism to a case with a very shaky prognosis which could change at any time.
As I said, no cite, no legal knowledge. But I can think of that instance wherein it could be argued that it’s in the patient’s best interest to not know about his own condition.
All these replies, and only vivalostwages provides a cite?
At the link, it says, “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.”
The patient does, in fact, have unfettered access to his information, with or without your docs’ say-so. And, theoretically, I could just waltz right in, ask to see my records, and request corrections. It’s true that I can’t waltz right back out with my chart; I don’t own the folder or the pieces of paper in it. But I do own that information, and I can request a copy for any reason I can think of (within legal limits).
Ms.Robyn, I looked at your last link (the other two contain errors and I can’t access them) and I don’t see anything in it to refute what has already been said. Are you, in fact, saying that you DO own your patient chart? You do not. Your last link even states that the physician owns the records. Yes, you do have a right to see it, upon your doctor’s okay. Do you have the right to walk right in and look at them on a moment’s notice? Not in my office.
First, my doctor has no legal right to keep me from my records, unless it is not in my best interests to see them. (For example, my shrink may keep me from seeing notes if in their opinion, seeing them may worsen my condition.) But, for the most part, I do have full access to my records.
My point was that I, as the patient, can make corrections to records I feel are inaccurate. Filing and charting are not perfect, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone through my records and found information that was just flat out wrong. As my cites show, I have the right to view my records and make any corrections I feel are appropriate, within the limits of the law. Can I remove anything that may be potentially embarrasing? Probably not, if it’s accurate. Can I have wrong information pulled? You bet.
uglybeech’s post was worded in such a way that the patient was never allowed to make corrections. That is very clearly not the case, and it’s federal law, not her docs, that say so.