Patient Access
California law declares that "...every person having ultimate responsibility for decisions respecting his or her own health care also possesses a concomitant right of access to complete information respecting his or her condition and care provided."
The federal HIPAA Privacy Rule applies to health care providers that transmit electronic medical records and it establishes minimum standards for states to follow.
In California, you should expect to pay 25-50 cents per page for copies of medical records as well as reasonable clerical costs. You may need to wait 15 days after the provider receives your written request.
Alternatively, a California resident may engage an attorney to obtain copy records. In such case the provider must make the records available within 5 days after presentation of the written authorization by the attorney.
Some patients have legal reasons to review their entire record and may want to know if certain records are absent. When the patient is represented by an attorney, the provider is not allowed to perform the copying. Instead, the patient's medical records are copied by aprofessional copyist or another authorized agent.
Correcting records
Maintaining an accurate medical record is important for most patients. Errors in medical records are not only detrimental to patient safety, they can impair a person's financial interests and employment opportunities. Consumers can improve their chances of getting insured -- and of paying lower premiums -- by checking that medical information held by doctors, hospitals and pharmacies is accurate.
The federal HIPAA Privacy Rule provides the right to amend a patient's medical records but there is no guarantee the patient can require the physician to actually make changes or add anything to the record. HIPAA law allows the provider to offer a "written rebuttal to the individual's statement of disagreement."
On the other hand, California residents have a guaranteed right to require their health care provider to insert up to 250 words of written addendum to correct or explain anything in their records that the patient believes to be incomplete or incorrect.
Transferring records
Transferring records between providers is usually done by professional courtesy. California's Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) does not require patients to sign authorizations to allow exchange of records between treating health care providers
However, if you want to make sure your new doctor has immediate access to copies of your medical records, it is wise to gather them yourself. You can prepare a binder with tabs for each category such as lab reports, prescription information, operative reports, etc. Many hospitals are willing to waive copying costs if you ask for such records as "emergency department reports," "history and physical," "operative reports," and "discharge summaries." Standard reports can usually be printed directly from the hospital computer system.
Obtaining copies of your medication history is easy if you purchase from the same pharmacy. California pharmacies have a duty to keep "medication profiles" for at least one year from the date when the last prescription was filled. (See page 86, California Code of Regulations Title 16 § 1701.1) These electronic records can usually be printed within a day or two after the patient makes a request.
If you have a document scanner, you may want to keep pdf copies of your records on digital format. Personal health records, also known as personal medical records (PMRs), are records kept by a patient.
