In New York State, a doctor can not refuse to provide medical records. The doctor is allowed to charge up to 75 cents per page for same. Failure to comply is reportable to the board of medicine. Contact your state's board of medicine to determine what the laws are in your state.
A little more...Under federal law (specifically HIPAA), there are very few legals reason for a doctor to refuse releasing your own medical records to you, with the main exception being any psychotherapy notes as made during the course of licensed psychotherapy (you can't just say it's psyche notes). Federal Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) handles the initial complaint. You can file a HIPAA complaint on the web at their site. And eventually the complaint may wind up at the OCR -- Office of Civil Rights, which handles enforcement.HIPAA does not specify a rate per page, but says that, if the records are to be released to YOU, the doctor may assess a charge to offset expenses, but it can't be so high as to provide a barrier to you obtaining your records. Your doctor must release records to another doctor handling your health care at no cost to you.
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∙ 2012-10-18 23:07:47Every doctor maintains his or her patients' medical records.
Legally, medical records are owned by the employer of the doctor who compiles them.
Medical records belong to the patient, not the doctor and remain confidential regardless of the doctor's financial condition.
doctor/patient confidentiallity does NOT permit a doctor from revealing your medical records to anyone but you
To his replacment.
The doctor and the patient.
The doctor is the person who is mainly in charge of writing the records. But, most importantly, YOU are in charge of your medical records, since you are the subject.
Your doctor should never hand out your medical records to anyone including your husband, this is a serious breach of confidentiality between doctor and patient.
Yes, you are legally entitled to a copy of your medical records. This has just a few exceptions including if the doctor feels that looking at your medical records might cause you to harm yourself. If this is the reason he or she will not release the records, the doctor must state clearly the reasoning.
Submit a signed, written request to the doctor, hospital, etc. for your medical records. They are required to let you have copies of your medical records, but they may charge a fee.
If the records are requested by your new Medical office, they should not charge you for them.. If you are picking them up.. normally they charge a fee and something like one dollar per page. If you can, have your new Doctor request the records. They should not charge for that.
yes, you have a right to copies of all your medical records.