This is complicated and I'm not sure the best way to proceed. My old roommate had
Surgery at a LI hospital in about 1995 or 1996. She never got her records or
Pathology. She moved back to the caribbean island she came from. She ended up
With surgery but they mis-diagnosed her. She has no insurance. She went to Cuba
Which is not too far. They found a malignancy. The doctor wants her records from
The states.
I know about HIPPA, I'm a retired nurse. I just don't know the best approach to
Getting her records. The fax machines in Cuba are unreliable. Her friend at her
Home only has a computer, no fax and no fax at work. I have no fax... I have
Her doctor's name and number in Cuba. He really wants those records ASAP.
How best can I help.

Unfortunately, you may not be able to get them from 12 - 13 years ago. Medical records are not required to be kept that long, but some places may do so.

Contact the records department and ask that they mail them. It will take longer but its worth a shot.

Thank you for getting back to me. But my problem is this back and forth
Communication. Can permission be granted via telephone from Cuba to the
US with the doctor and patient present instead of waiting for all the release
Forms to go back and forth. That could take forever.

Getting the records to her by email would not be difficult on your part, if you can get the records.

Some Fedex/Kinko locations have the ability for you to scan to .PDF. They charge by time and it ends up costing about $1.00/page in my experience. Take a USB drive with you to store the pictures.

Staples has Fax machines that can be used for incoming and outgoing.

If you can ascertain ahead of time that the records exist, but you may not be able to.

You can, however try some of the following:

Get the records released to you
Find out what the hospital needs:
Copy of her driver's license, will an email do, will some personal information do.
Find out if the hospital even has the records. It may not be the hospital, but the psysician that has then.

You might be able to pose the question as: My frind XXX is in in Cuba and her doctor needs her medical records ASAP. She had X sugery between the following years and her doctor was XXX. I can provide some personal information: Her birthday was XXX She lived at XXXX. Her ssn/ITIN is this. I have an email saying that you can release the information to me.

What do I need to do?
Usually all that is required is a statement and a signiture. Thaey can compare her signaiture to the signiture on the records themselves.
If she can get that. Signiaure to you, you can handle the rest.

It should be as simple as:

Please release any and all medical records from the period XXX to XXX from any medical provider to Your name/address. I authorize her to talk to you upon my behalf in connection with these records.

Do to the urgency of the request, call me at XXXX and so that they can be personally picked up..

Can you tell mem if the records exist before I go though the formality?


Have her purchase a scanner, if possible.
Go to Knko's/FED ex and scan whatever documents you need to send to PDF.
It typically costs $1.00/page but it's based on time.
Email the documents to her.

You can try fax to emal like this, for instance, Start Faxing by Email. eFax Plus Free Trial.

You may not know it or she may not know it, but you could have afax modem in your computer.

If she can purchase a scanner or get a document scanned to PDF, you have it made. If she could fax to her own email with the free trial, you have it made.

These are ideas and I'm babbleing, sorry.

Records by email are not permitted via HIPAA laws. There is no way to say for sure who exactly is receiving those files.

Unfortunately, permission cannot be given via telephone for much the same reason. I could call your doctor, pretend to be you, and get your records, but you don't know who in the Sam Hill I am, right? LOL

Medical records must be requested in writing from the patient who received the medical service (parent in the case of a minor). This document is sent from the current health care provider to the previous health care provider, at which time copies are made and sent to the current health care provider.

Due to HIPAA laws ONLY the patient can request copies of medical records unless they are subpoenaed for a law suit.

Due to the urgency of the situation, the request may be faxed (I'm sure that there are some reliable fax machines in Cuba), and the records could be overnighted.

Let me also add that if you, or your friend, request copies of the records (should they still be available), there will be a charge per page. This can become extremely expensive.

HOWEVER, if the current treating physician requests the copies, there is no charge to your friend for the copies.

I got copies of some of my records by email. I guess I got lucky. The office scans everything and stores faxes electronically as well, so it was easy as PDF.

In her case, "they" would not know if they were physically released to the friend.

The key is getting permission.

So, J_9 what are the exact requirements for permission?

And your right, a charge like $1.00 per page is common. Hospitals easily charge. Doctors offices may or may not.

You got very lucky KISS, in all honesty, how did the doctor's office know if it was you they were emailing, your boss, or a nosy neighbor?

In the past few years HIPAA has become a very hot topic with release of medical records.

If the doctor wants those records so badly, he can call the previous health care provider and request the documents. A third party (such as the OP) is not necessary.

The requirements for permission? I assume you mean transferring records from one doctor's office to another?

A Medical Release must be signed by the patient, in this case at the current health care providers office. A copy of that release remains in her records in Cuba and the original would go to the previous HCP in New York. The records would then be sent directly to the doctor in Cuba.

The OP is not allowed to have copies of the records unless she is the patient advocate, in which case, there would need to be a legal document in place stating that she can sign in place of the patient.

I will also say that many records, after years of inactivity, are destroyed. Some institutions destroy records after 10 years of inactivity, some up to 20 years. So there is no way for us to tell if the doctor in New York still even has the records. If this doctor does, they are probably in a storage facility and it may take quite a bit of time to locate them.

I just provided my email address. Done. It was easy for that office because records are kept electronically. They would not burn them to a CD. My name is actually part of the email address.

Emails were accepted to for the HIPAA requirement to release info to my employer. My employer provides the email address and it's used as identification for various administrative functions, so it's unique to me, so a signature was not required.

At another doctor's office, when he left the practice, I asked for a copy of his progress notes. Getting them electronically is very hard, so I didn't get them at all. It could have been 20-30 pages. No charge.

But in general all that is necessary is a simple statement stating what records and from whom to whom is all that's necessary even if it's doctor to doctor. I even signed a release that they could talk to each other about the condition.

The cost can be determined by the physician. Its not mandatory to charge, but there is a cap on the fee. Some will be free while others choose to charge the max amount allowed. Since this is a special case with International mailing/etc. a small fee is likely.

Good luck to you... there really is no easy way around this.

My husband just got his medical record for surgery after birth, 42 years ago. But it took a year to get them.