Medical Records for your Lakewood Ranch Injury Attorney

Checklist for How to Get Your Medical Records.

A Manatee County, Palmetto, Bradenton, or Lakewood Ranch personal injury lawyer may need your records for a number of reasons while investigating your claim. You can, almost always, get these records faster than any attorney.

1) Your Right to Your Medical Records. You have the right, under a Federal Law, called “HIPPA”, to request and obtain copies of your medical records. Hippa stands for Federal Health Information Portability and Accountability Act.

2) Request and complete the HIPPA release. You should request the HIPPA release form from your medical provider. They will either mail it, let you pick it up, or tell you where to download it. Picking it up will be the quickest. Make sure you complete it in writing and do not rely on a verbal request. Request copies only, not the originals. The form may ask for your date of birth and social security number for identification purposes. Ask where they want you to send the completed and signed HIPPA release. Some providers use a third party, while yet others have specific offices or employees dedicated to medical records requests. If you send it to the wrong location, your request will be delayed.

3) HIPPA records timeline. Hippa requires medical providers to provide copies of medical records within 30 days of your request. If it will take more than 30 days to meet your request, the medical provider must give you a reason for the delay. This delay almost never happens.

4) Receipt and Payment for Records. Once you have completed and provided the HIPPA release form to the medical providers, ask when you can stop by to pick up copies of the records. Most will not charge you, but under HIPPA they are allowed to, but it should be nominal. You may wish to clear this in advance so there are no surprises. Also, if you have treated with this provider for years, you may want to limit the records request to just the post accident records or for some set period of time.

If you have not already done so, now that you have the records, you are ready to contact a Sarasota or Bradenton injury attorney like myself for a free consultation regarding your auto accident or premises liability claim.

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