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speedball1 · Sep 7, 2009, 03:36 PM

I need a second opinion. My records were requested last week but the clinic's dragging their feet. The new clinic requested them over a week ago.
Can I march in there and demand them? Can they refuse to hand them over?
Any advice would be helpful. Thanks, Tom

medic-dan · Sep 7, 2009, 04:26 PM

I'm not certain as to Florida law but in general:

You have every right to your records. They may charge you a "nominal" fee to copy them though.

Was this request in writing? I know our service requires that it would be.

A week seems to be a reasonable period. Speak to the office manager and see if she can help.

speedball1 · Sep 7, 2009, 07:29 PM

Thank you Dan,
I'll stop into the climic tomorrow and let you know how I made out. Tom

Fr_Chuck · Sep 7, 2009, 07:34 PM

They may or may not have time to "copy" them while you wait, depending on staff time, people out sick or on vacation.

It is not uncommon for medical records to take 3 or 4 weeks between doctor ofices

speedball1 · Sep 7, 2009, 08:12 PM

Chuck,
The other clinic asked for them over a week ago and I plan on calling first thing in the morning and stopping in the afternoon. If I can't get them is there any recourse besides a court action? Regards, Tom

The next day!! I asked for and received my records. I thank you all for your response. Tom

twinkiedooter · Sep 14, 2009, 04:13 PM

You won't need a lawsuit to get a copy of your medical records. You may have to part with a few dollars though in order to get them quicker than if they were to be copied and sent on to the other clinic that is.

How big is your file at the first clinic? If it's a small file, then they can probably copy them while you wait a few minutes.

J_9 · Sep 14, 2009, 04:29 PM

A week is not an unreasonable amount of time Tom. Unless this is an emergency, it's not unusual to wait a month or so to have your records copied and sent to the new doc.

LearningAsIGo · Sep 16, 2009, 11:59 AM

I'm surprised so many of you don't think a month or more is unreasonable.

Honestly, I work in the environment and if we took more than 48 - 72 hours we'd be in major trouble. These days, many are scanned into an electronic record and can be printed on-demand. The real time should be in mailing - which shouldn't be an issue if you pick them up yourself.

Of course, this isn't totally standard practice yet, but really a week should be a suitable amount of time.

Going there may be the push they need. Just plan on sitting there for 20 - 30 minutes if they haven't started working on them before you arrived.