I have searching and can't find the answer so I thought I'd try asking. My current doctor said I could get my medical records from my previous doctor by walking in and asking for them. Well I went to my previous doctor and filled out a form to get my records released to me. I turned in the form and the lady at the front desk asked me if I was going out of the country. Well I'm not and told her so. I wanted to look thorough my file before turning it over to my current doctor. I am quite knowledgeable about a lot of things in the healthcare field. The lady had my file laying there on her desk and said the doctor would look through my file and they would call me after he had looked through it to come pick it up. Can they actually do this? Is this legal? Since I'm no longer his patient what would he need to look through my file for?

Okay, keep calling and tell the doctor u need it. Either fax it to the new doctor or give it to you. Keep calling... there is not as much strict rule as you 've thought about doctors. WHen they are tired of your call, they will do it...
Keep calling...

Technically, the records are your property, the paper they are written on, are the doctors. The girl at the front desk sounded like she was stalling you. Ethical doctors will NOT hand over original copies to a patient. There is too high a risk involved... what if you had a house fire and they were distroyed? They SHOULD have given you copies, but doctors are free to impose their own rules.

One office I worked in would not even give copies, they had to be faxed directly to the new physician. Another, would give copies for a small fee. None will give you originals unless you are leaving the country in an emergency situation.

Like the pp said, call them back and request they be faxed to the new physician by the end of the business day. There is no reason they can't do that... not sending them to another doctor is violation of the law. Not giving them to a patient is not unlawful.

You guys down there sure do things the hard way. You are all actually making a mountain out of a mole hill. Patient records, in a doctor's office, is very sensitive information and would never be faxed from any doctor I know. My records were like 60 pages long, now how is that going to be faxed?

The OP's doctor had a perfect right to look through the records as long as they were still in his possession. He probably wanted to make sure everything was there. No copies should ever be given, copies are highly personalized information. Would anyone here want a copy floating around wherever?

Sometimes we pay a fee here to get our records for a new doctor and even then it is picked up and hand delivered never mailed. As soon as you have your med records, it is your property entirely, when you hand them over to your new doctor, they are his.

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Originally Posted by tickle

you guys down there sure do things the hard way. You are all actually making a mountain out of a mole hill. Patient records, in a doctor's office, is very sensitive information and would never be faxed from any doctor I know. My records were like 60 pages long, now how is that going to be faxed?

The OP's doctor had a perfect right to look through the records as long as they were still in his possession. He probably wanted to make sure everything was there. No copies should ever be given, copies are highly personalized information. Would anyone here want a copy floating around wherever?

Sometimes we pay a fee here to get our records for a new doctor and even then it is picked up and hand delivered never mailed. As soon as you have your med records, it is your property entirely, when you hand them over to your new doctor, they are his.

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Tickle, it sounds like the laws regarding this issue are different in Canada than the US. :)
US doctors will not give you original copies of your records. They legally have to retain them for several years if you are still their patient or not. Believe me, we'll fax 200 pages if we have to. (Now we have computer programs that fax automatically without the "old machines")

I am a medical assistant... and no they will not give a patient the original chart... what if your house caught on fire, or you lost it? You record would be gone for good.

It was common practice in our office to attach the request to the chart and leave it for the doctor. As was said, the doctors like to look through, make sure everything is in order, make sure any and all drugs are written done etc... make sure there is no missing labs etc. It's really just to make sure the chart is complete.

I do have to agree with Learning and Macksmom here. But let me also say that there are several portions of the patient's chart that the patient does not have access to.

Individuals do not have the right to access the following types of information:
(a) Psychotherapy notes;
(b) Information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or for use in, a civil, criminal,
Or administrative action or proceeding; and
(c) Protected health information that is:
(1) Subject to the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments of 1988, 42
U.S.C. §263a, to the extent the provision of access to the individual would be
Prohibited by law; or
(2) Exempt from the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments of 1988,
Pursuant to 42 CFR §493.3(a)(2).

There are many other instances where a patients health record is not available for viewing and/or copying for purposes of giving to the patient. I have only included a few. This is what is called Protected Health Information.

Doctors here in Ontario are very hard to come by. We recently lost our family doctor due to retirement. He handed over our medical records, all hard copies for all three family members, and I still have them. My new doctor didn't want to see them and only said I would tell her anything she needed to know. I was fine with that and so was my son.

We are on a health network here. Every time we visit any kind of pracitioner for any reason, my new doctor knows as soon as she accesses my file in her office. I like that.

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Originally Posted by tickle

Doctors here in Ontario are very hard to come by. We recently lost our family doctor due to retirement. He handed over our medical records, all hard copies for all three family members, and I still have them. My new doctor didnt want to see them and only said I would tell her anything she needed to know.

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And that is why, as least here in the US, doctors don't hand over the original chart. Not that you did, but you could add or take out anything from that chart, and there it is either added or gone forever.

Most doctors want the records sent directly from the previous doctors office. But it is still possible to get a copy for yourself, most times with a fee.

I have to agree again With Macksmom. Not everyone is honest. They could remove or replace anything in their file at will if given the opportunity. There are also private records within a chart that the patient is not privileged to have in their possession, specifically psychiatric notes, prison charts, etc.

While it is possible to get a copy of a chart at a price, it will not be the entire chart unless subpoenaed for court.

Okay, so we drop it. I am a Personal Support Worker here for the Canadian Red Cross, so as such am privy to a lot of information but not necessarily clients' personal records; I have a limited scope of practice.

We just operate differently in this field from you guys in the US. Maybe at a more relaxed attitude. Whatever we do, I know it works. So your system works too.

Your previous doctor will have to give you and your new doctor a "copy" of your file, but they will keep a copy for their records.

Normally you will have to give them notice and time to make these copies.