Patients do have the legal right to access their health information held by doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers. However, patients and caregivers often have difficulty obtaining the medical records they need when they have a health crisis, switch doctors or plan to see a specialist. This article describes effective strategies that can ease the access to healthcare records. In a paper-based healthcare system, it can be time-consuming, expensive, and cumbersome to get copies of medical records.
To obtain their records, often patients must fill out an authorization form, in some cases online. Some patients must go to their doctor's office and complete the form in person. According to a recent survey report, when patients do receive their records, they often find they're incomplete or inaccurate and they have to contact the healthcare provider to obtain what's missing or…
