My Patient Wants Records in PDF Format

Today, we will explore the different formats in which patients can request their medical records, as part of their legal right to access their own health information. Tune in to the video to learn more about this important topic.

Transcription:

We hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season a few weeks ago, we started talking about right of access medical records requests. This is where a patient is asking to see a copy of their medical records. In fact, they can actually make that request and ask you to send them to a third party as well. We’re going to talk about some of the nuances today we’re going to talk about, you know, when they make that request, and what format that they make their request for. So for example, they may ask to see a copy of the medical records in general, and then that’s going to be easy for you to just kind of have a conversation with them to make sure that you can fulfill that request. But sometimes they’re going to ask for it in a specific format, they may want it in paper format, they may want it in PDF format, they may want it in Microsoft Word format. In those cases where they’re asking for it in a specific manner, then you have to provide those medical records in the form and format in which they request. If you have that capability. In other words, if it’s readily available in your practice to be able to give them those records, then in those particular cases, you’re going to have to fulfill it in the form and format in which they requested.

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Now, for those of you the few of you that still maintain all of your medical records and paper only in those particular instances, when they say I’d like to have a PDF copy. Now, if you don’t have a scanner in your practice or in your office, then in those cases, you could talk to the patient say I don’t have the capability to be able to put that in electronic format. But I am willing to mail you a copy or hand you a paper copy of your medical records, you still have to fulfill the request. But you are able to switch to paper in those particular instances. Now, if you do have a scanner in your practice, you can’t just say I don’t have time to do that. Instead, you’re going to have to fulfill that in the form and format in which the request. So if you maintain all of your records and paper and you have a scanner, then in those particular cases, you are going to have to scan the records and provide them in an electronic format.

Now, for the rest of you that still maintain or that maintain all of your medical records electronically, you have an EHR system, a cloud-based server base, or whatever the case might be. In those particular cases, you still have to provide it in the form and format if it’s readily available. So if they, for example, if they do request it in Microsoft Word format, and your system can provide that in a Microsoft Word format type environment, in those cases, you have to provide it in that case, well, let’s say your system doesn’t have it. And you don’t have software that actually converts whatever your system generates into a Microsoft Word format. In those cases, you can tell the patient that you don’t have readily available the capability to be able to make those Word documents, but instead, you’re willing to fulfill them with a PDF. In those cases, typically, you’re going to have that agreement that is reached if there’s no agreement that’s ever reached for the form and format for the electronic version. And in that case, then you can give them a paper format, right? But most of the time, you’re going to come to an agreement. Let’s say it’s a PDF format. Now you’re gonna say, Well, how do I get it? Well, most of the time, they’re just going to want them emailed. And I will tell you, that they that they HHS actually deals with this specifically and make it very clear that they say that mail and email are generally considered readily producible by all covered entities. So in other words for everybody, whether you maintain on paper or this, that or electronically, then mail for paper, if you will, or email for you, those are readily producible. You can’t just say our policy doesn’t allow us to send via email, the patient asked for it via email, even if it’s unsecured. That’s okay. HIPAA says it’s okay to send your electronic medical records via email. And so you can do that at the patient’s request. You know that that’s all right.

It’s also important to know as I mentioned before, you don’t have to purchase new software, you also don’t have to purchase a scanner to get it into electronic format. If you don’t already have that. They’re not requiring you to go out and make a new purchase in order to make these things happen. But if you do have the capability or practice, you do have to provide them in the form and format in which they’re asked in the future. We’re going to talk about a couple of other things. We’re going to talk about the fees that you can charge because they are different than a typical standard HIPAA request, and it will cover those we’ll also cover the third party and what happens if you have it, where they want to send it to a third party, maybe an attorney or how you can actually use it for you to ensure that another healthcare provider or health care facility, sends you the patient’s medical records and responds more quickly through you utilizing this form of request, if you will, the right of access requests. We’ll cover that in future videos and we’ll catch you next week. Take care.