Introduction
In a clinic where your doctor used to work and kept all your health documents, closes his business and moves away. What would you do to get previous medical records from them?
It is important to keep copies of all your medical records because you never know when you can need them. Large or small medical practices provide patients with their medical copies but if you are in a health care system that closes they may have a medical records custodian to keep track of all your medical records in electronic form. For this, you will need to request for these records yourself. These include lab tests, prescription, doctor’s notes and billing information. For health care systems or regular clinics, there are certain ways from which you can obtain your medical records. You have the right to obtain any blood tests, X-rays, mammograms, genetic tests, biopsies and even any sort of notes that the doctor or provider has written.
Medical Records Custodian Company
A medical practice usually appoints a health information custodian to keep medical records of people that are released upon request. A custodian of records company manages all health and medical documents of patients and takes care of medical records storage. A person or their guardian can obtain such records through written application call a medical release of information. These medical requests are legal which are made from an authorized form with attached-information and may be easily disclosed from the custodian of medical records.
Contact your local medical society or state
Doctors, hospitals, labs, and other medical practitioners are supposed to keep a patient’s records at least up to six years or in case of a child the provider must keep it till 18 or 21 years. You can contact your local medical society who can help you contact the provider or doctor. The provider is not allowed to deny the patient and so you can request any document you require. The medical society or even state has records and registrations, so you can obtain the latest contact information.
Who can gain access to your records? The patient himself or his guardian can request the healthcare organization to disclose information on medical records. Advocates or caregivers can also request records only if the patient has signed a written permission.
