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]

We all need to keep a file or box to drop in anything that we do with a Doc or Lab. I always ask my Doc for a copy of my visit and diagnosis and lab work when I pay my copay. Take it home and drop it in my medical box.

Well, I do not have any doctors besides the VA.

After being disabled for 2 years the company I worked for finally dropped me from theirs. I was shocked that they let me keep it for so long after I became disabled.

I was misinformed by the VA about Medicare part B when it was available to me, so if I apply for it now I have to pay a surcharge because I was eligible for it 3 years ago.

I would have to pay like $130.00 a month for part B.

When I leave the NoN-VA hospital after an emergency (happens about 8 times a year) the records are never ready.

All the records I need now are from the past when I had insurance and a job.

I guess I will just try to get a local doctor to see me on a cash basis and ask him to order them. That way I have access to my records cheaper than the $1800.00 and a local doctor if I need one.

Seems so logical now that I type it.

Sure wish my mind was as good as it used to be.

[Pete53]

If you can show Medicare that you had Insurance and VA coverage you can get them to just charge the regular 96 bucks they are charging all Part B

[tssnave]

Don,

Have you tried talking to the office manager and request that they waive the fee? Just telling him/her that you are a disabled vet and need your records to process your claim may be all it takes. Especially when you let them know that the only other docs you see are at the VA and they have lost records sent to them.

It may be a long shot but it may work. A lot of good people would like any opportunity to help out a disabled vet and this is a situation where all it might take is the right person saying they authorize you to get your records at no cost because they have the authority to waive the fee.

Find out who has that authority (probably the office manager) and ask them to waive the fee.

I hope this works for you.

Keep us posted,

TS Snave

[donews]

Don,

Have you tried talking to the office manager and request that they waive the fee? Just telling him/her that you are a disabled vet and need your records to process your claim may be all it takes. Especially when you let them know that the only other docs you see are at the VA and they have lost records sent to them.

It may be a long shot but it may work. A lot of good people would like any opportunity to help out a disabled vet and this is a situation where all it might take is the right person saying they authorize you to get your records at no cost because they have the authority to waive the fee.

Find out who has that authority (probably the office manager) and ask them to waive the fee.

I hope this works for you.

Keep us posted,

TS Snave

Ts,

After reading this I called their office and asked.

They are going to have the office manager call me when she is back in the office.

We shall see if I get lucky.

[Mcafee]

Contact your Congressman or Senator

[donews]

It was a no go.

They use an offsite storage company that they send all records to after 1 year.

The manager said the hospital has no control over charges for the records, which is something I doubt.

Oh well, I tried.