Non - Va Medical Records

[donews]

Ok heres the situation.

I am trying to gather most of my non-VA medical records for an IMO and to have for when the VA looses them.

Every doctor / Hospital I contacted except two want upto $0.75 per page for copies of these records.

One hospital that I use a lot due to its proximity to my home wants $1800.00 for a full copy of my medical records.

They will send them to another doctor free of charge.

Three times they have send a CASE of records to the VA and the records room has lost them all three times.

The only doctors I have are all VA doctors.

Does anyone know if there is a service out there that will request all my records and then charge me a small fee and then ship them to me?

Or does anyone have a suggestion as to how I might go about obtaining the records cheaper or free?

I mean we have a right for a free copy of our credit report, but no right to free copies of our medical records, there is something just very wrong about that.

[donews]

I will update you all when I get confirmation from the facility manager.

Thank you all for the suggestions and support.

[free_spirit_etc]

Glad things are going better for you. I also think you had a BRILLIANT idea about a service that obtains records for individuals. I really don't understad the whole idea that your medical records belong to everybody BUT the patient. It seems like it would make more sense to give ONE copy to the patient to send out - rather than make a copy of the WHOLE file for everyone that needs it.

But when YOU need the file - it is so LARGE.

I requested records from Social Security so I can have my own copies to send out - and they told me if someone needs them I should request them through"appropriate" channels. LOL - The patient is supposed to be kept out of the loop.

And then there is an issue of RE-releasing records. Like when the Pet Center sent a report to the oncologist - the oncologist was NOT supposed to RE-release the records. They are only supposed to send their OWN records.

Seems like it would be much easier to just give the patient a copy.

But it is often hard to SEE your records too. They want to sit with you and hold the chart and say "What do you want to see?" And read that page to you.

Nope. I want to SEE the record..and then I will know what I want to see.

Free

[donews]

Free,

I went through the whole getting my SSDI records feasco about two weeks ago.

There is a forum post or two about my experience getting my SSDI file and what they charged me. ($94.30 is what they charged me)

I absolutely believe that the patient should have rights to obtain a copy of their records every so often for free.

Come on its absolutely rediculous, we have the right to view our credit report free one time a year or anytime we get denied credit based on it. But when it comes to something such as our medical records, which by the way I think is more inportant than my credit record, we do not have the right to anything.

It should be free copy every year or five years or something like that.

My opinion is that this is a money racket for the doctors and hospitals. They know people will NEED these records for compensation, lawsuits, VA, ect and they know that we will pay if we NEED them.

Ok I will leave it at that before I burst into a rant about whats wrong with the money machine establishment or the world or something.

I think I will have confirmation from the Manager today about the reduced fee and what records are involved.

[donews]

*Update*

Ok, I confirmed the discounted price for the records that I requested.

I called them today and made payment over the phone and got my confirmation number.

They said my records will be shipped tommorow.

I will update once again when I actually have them in hand.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice and suggestions.