If you are a retired physician who closed their medical practice, that doesn’t mean you are no longer responsible for filling requests for patient medical records. In fact, there are still strict deadlines to respond to requests for medical records that you need to adhere to.

Is there a set time limit that I have to respond to a request for medical records?

When a patient submits a formal request for medical records in writing, you have 15 days to comply with that request. The timeline starts the day that you receive their request for medical records in writing.

What happens if I do not respond in a timely manner?

If you fail to respond in a timely manner to a request for medical records, action can be taken against you. If the patient or former patient files a complaint with the medical board, you may be contacted by the medical board to see what the hold up is. If you still fail to provide the medical records, you can be issued a citation or even have action taken against your medical license.

What if I cannot find the former patient’s medical records?

If you cannot locate medical records, this is a serious issue. At the very least, you have violated a patient’s right to the medical records. At the worst, the records with sensitive information on them are somewhere unsecure. Regardless, you need to perform a careful investigation and report the loss to various agencies, such as HHS.

If you need help managing patients’ medical records when you retire, contact My Retired Doctor.

If you are planning to retire or have already retired and are struggling to deal with requests for medical records, My Retired Doctor can help. Since 1993 we have been offering assistance to retired physicians by serving as their Release of Information Provider. That means we handle the storage of your old medical records and former patient requests for copies as they come in. If you are interested in our Release of Information Provider services, give us a call today at 877-328-2343 to obtain a quote or discuss our service in more detail.

To learn more about the reliable and quality document management services that we offer, visit us on the web at My Retired Doctor.