Know your patient rights, medical records

Did you know that, if requested, your doctor is required to give you a copy of your medical records? Did you know you can be charged only a small duplication fee for this?

Doctors are responsible for maintaining medical records of their patients. These records must remain confidential and, whether stored on paper or electronically, must be maintained at least five years from the last time they had contact with that patient.

As a health care consumer, you need to know your rights when it comes to your medical records.

Based on calls received by the Florida Board of Medicine, the office responsible for licensing and regulating physicians in the state, the following information is important to know:

If a physician is relocating or terminating practice and is no longer available to patients, the physician must publish a notice in a newspaper in the area of the physician's practice with the greatest circulation.

The notice must contain the date the office is closing and the address at which patients may receive copies of their medical records. The notice must run at least one day per week for four weeks, and the physician must submit a copy to the Board of Medicine within one month of the closing date.

A physician may also place a sign at the practice and/or send individual letters to the patients with the notice information.

While the Board of Medicine encourages physicians to provide their patients with at least one copy of their medical record at no cost, they are allowed to charge a small fee.

This charge is limited, as follows: for the first 25 pages, $1 per page; for the subsequent pages (after 25), 25 cents per page; and for other types of records, such as X-rays, the actual cost of reproduction, including materials, supplies, labor costs and overhead costs associated with reproduction.

Certain confidential records are very sensitive and must be provided only upon written request and only to certain entities. These records include HIV/AIDS records, sexually transmitted disease records, alcohol and drug abuse records, and psychiatric and psychotherapeutic records. For example, psychiatrists may provide a report in lieu of copies of the psychiatric medical record. However, if the patient is seeing a new treatment provider, the psychiatrist should forward copies of the entire medical record directly to the new psychiatrist.

Doctors are not allowed to refuse you a copy of your medical records for being past due or failing to pay for prior medical services; however, they are allowed to make you pay for the copies prior to giving them to you.

For more information about your physician, go to our website at www.FLHealthSource.com. Information regarding other health care practitioners is also available at this site.