Ticked off !!! Have to pay for medical records?

[Krysta]

My doctor recently retired, I just got a phone call now saying if I don't pay 500.00 for my families medical records they are going to shred them and we won't have a medical history.
And if we don't purchase them today the price is going to go up tomorrow.

Can they even do this? What happens if something happens to me down the road and medical malpractice wanted to be filed can they even destroy these doccuments?
What can be done about this or is there anything that can be done because how many elderly people or those with minimal budgets who need their records for disability etc how can they afford this?
They told me its charged according to the size of the file can you imagine how big some can be?

I'm just livid right now.

[Peety]

The same thing happened to my mom.

[Krysta]

Did this happen today or with a previous doctor?
It seems fishy to me because when I said im sorry I am a family of 7, I will have to check into this as its a huge chunk of change to spend. He said hold on let me speak to my supervisor, kept me holding 30 mins and then said if you pay by cc today we will only charge you 180.00?

[MaO3]

I'd call someone and find out if that is an acceptable rate. I know when my parents Doctor lost his license they had to pay to get copies but it was just over $100 for the two of them, but that was almost 5 years ago.

$500 sounds like a lot of money to me.

OK, your next post sounds like a much more resonable amount. I'd pay that PDQ and get your records before they change thier minds.

[Peety]

Did this happen today or with a previous doctor?
It seems fishy to me because when I said im sorry I am a family of 7, I will have to check into this as its a huge chunk of change to spend. He said hold on let me speak to my supervisor, kept me holding 30 mins and then said if you pay by cc today we will only charge you 180.00?

I asked her and she said 150, She changed Dr it was a move.

[Evil Monkey]

This sounds like a scam to me. Call your doc's office or phonebuster to make sure it is not a scam. It smells of scam to be by the "pay with credit card and it drops from $500 to $180???

[Krysta]

Isn't it a requirement to keep all medical records on file for a min of x number of years after retiring?

I'm ticked because i never even recieved a formal notice Dr.Smith was retiring I heard from word of mouth from my family now this?

[Evil Monkey]

SCAM SCAM SCAM! Call the office number. If no answer call the cops. When these people call do they have a weird number or private number? They are trying to scam you for your CC number!

[MaO3]

SCAM SCAM SCAM! Call the office number. If no answer call the cops. When these people call do they have a weird number or private number? They are trying to scam you for your CC number!

I never thought about a scam. I was asuming she called the doctors office. If they called you, be very careful, As EvilMonkey said, it could well be a scam.

[Krysta]

They just called my father as well. Number comes up as "RECORD STORAGE"

[HDV]

I have/had Dr Smith too. Useless doctor in my opinion but anyways, I never received any calls about having to pay for my medical records. I actually just switched to another doctor last week and I had my medical files set over to my new doctor and never paid a dime. My new doctor took me right away after he found out doctor smith was ignoring obvious health issues. But my point besides how bad of a doctor he is , is that I got all my files switched to my new doctor last week and paid nothing at all. I dont know if this is the same as what u are going through,but I thought i d just say anyways.

[BooBooMyKy]

isn't our right as canadians aswell as ontarian's that we can get our file fo freee at anytime????

[cutie22]

Regulation requires that physicians keep medical records for a certain period of time. For adult patients, the rule is that records must be retained for 10 years from the date of the last entry in the record. For patients who are children, the regulation requires that the physician keep the record until 10 years after the day on which the patient reached or would have reached the age of 18 years.
The site I got this from was: http://www.cpso.on.ca/policies/polic...t.aspx?ID=1686
I hope this does help.

[IMHO]

I would just take my chances at those prices.

[Dragonfly]

I believe my mom had to pay for her records as well. Im not sure how much, but she did have to pay

[goodasgold]

Hey Krysta, you do have to pay for your medical files. My doctor, Dr. Fraser, retired two years ago. We had to pay $30 for a copy of our files. It is Record Storage in Spanish that holds them. You only get the last 10 years of your files. I know this because I have the documents showing only two of my three kids births. Shawn has/had Dr. Smith also, as does his parents. I knew he was retiring awhile ago from them. Shawn went in September to get a referral and they told him that he was no longer a patient of Dr. Smith's. He asked why. According to them, because he hasn't been in to see the doctor in ten years, they no longer consider him a patient. He asked if he could at least get his file, they actually shredded it. No warning or anything. So he has no medical history at all.

[Juggs]

I have/had Dr Smith too. Useless doctor in my opinion but anyways, I never received any calls about having to pay for my medical records. I actually just switched to another doctor last week and I had my medical files set over to my new doctor and never paid a dime. My new doctor took me right away after he found out doctor smith was ignoring obvious health issues. But my point besides how bad of a doctor he is , is that I got all my files switched to my new doctor last week and paid nothing at all. I dont know if this is the same as what u are going through,but I thought i d just say anyways.

oh....my....GOD is there ever a thread that you cannot relate too. I have to check the religion section to see if you had a run in with Jesus Christ!!

[dilligaff]

oh....my....god is there ever a thread that you cannot relate too. I have to check the religion section to see if you had a run in with jesus christ!!

lmfao

[Santana]

It has been my understanding for the past 8 years or so that one cannot change physicians without moving out of town or their doctor no longer being in practice. I was told this was due to the doctor shortage in Ontario and it was put into effect a while back. I have attempted to change my doctor many times in the past few years and there is NO WAY I would be allowed to, while still living in SSM and having a doctor who is still in practice.

[Giggle Squirt]

that is true. I was trying to change my son's doc to my doc but he would not take him on unless his doc retired or we moved. His doc finally retired so then i finally got my son moved to my doc.