Medical Records

To obtain records from MGH, you must use a HIPAA-compliant authorization (available on their website) and write to MGH as follows:

Medical Records Department

Mass. General Hospital

Health Information Service

Correspondence Department

P.O. Box 9656

Boston, MA 02114-9656

You can call them at 617.726.2361

The pharmacy records are a part of the business, and are usually transferred to another nearby location within the company, or sold contractually to another company. Supervalu must notify its patients as to where the records are being transferred. If the patient does not wish to use the new location for prescription services, the patient merely contacts his/her pharmacy of choice to request that the prescription records be transferred out. This transfer can be done over the phone, between the pharmacists from each respective location, during normal business hours when both pharmacies are open. Maureen C. RPh

Legally, medical records are owned by the employer of the doctor who compiles them.

150 years

Yes, they still have complete control of anything that may be wrong or other.

Records are kept in the workplace to document what was done and why, in case a tax issue arrises or a transaction is questioned. If someone wants to sue the business for something, then the business has records that show what was done, by whom, and when. Workplace records also document when maintenance or repairs were done, to help people remember when they may be needed next. And all of these records can help when the person who did the work moves to another town and someone else has to figure out what needs doing and how it used to be done.

Of course. Patients have complete right to accessing their medical records. Even more so with the 2014 ONC criteria for Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Meaningful Use Stage 2 where physicians have to ensure that at least 5% of their total registered patients access their medical data from their patient portals. While the usage of patient portals was not so common earlier, because of limited functionality, they have been continuously worked upon by healthcare organizations and are now much more usable. Patients can now see their Summaries of Care thanks to the universal CCD/CCR format which also allows patients to View, Download and Transfer their care summaries to any other physician they choose to. This is something truly revolutionary and will not only give patients more access to their medical records but also make them more engaged in their care.

To abstract data from the medical records, simply go to the medical files in question to retrieve the information.

YES!!! At least this is so in the State of California.

Generally hospitals keep medical records for up to seven years. The hospital must maintain inpatient and outpatient records for this time period.

Though medical records are usually encrypted, there is a chance that hackers can access them. Certain technologies allow savvy computer users to access hidden files.

Because - the only people allowed to see a patient's medical record are (a) the patient themselves, and (b) medical professionals. Without confidentiality, anyone could read the record and find out facts about a patient they might not want everyone to know !