Getting your medical records after a crash

Your right to see and copy your records

California's patient access law, Health & Safety Code § 123110, gives adult patients and their personal representatives the right to their medical records. The key rules are:

• Inspection: the provider must let you inspect the records during business hours within five working days after receiving your request. You may bring one other person.
• Copies: you are entitled to a paper or electronic copy of all or part of the records, and the provider must send it within 15 days after receiving the request. If the records are kept electronically and you ask for an electronic copy, you should get one in the format you ask for if it is readily producible.
• Cost: the provider may charge only a reasonable, cost-based fee covering labor, supplies and postage, and no more than $0.25 per page for paper copies or $0.50 per page for copies from microfilm.
• Unpaid bills: a provider may not withhold your records because you owe it money for care.

What to ask for after a crash

For an injury claim, you usually need more than a discharge summary. Ask each provider, in writing, for:

• the emergency department record, including the triage notes and the physician's notes;
• imaging reports (X-ray, CT, MRI) and, if needed, the images themselves on disc;
• records of any admission, surgery or follow-up visits;
• an itemized bill showing each charge, which is separate from the medical record and often handled by a different department;
• the ambulance patient care report from the ambulance company, if you were transported.

Date your request, keep a copy, and note the 15-day deadline. If you don't hear back, call the records (health information management) department and refer to the statute.

Where to send the request

Each hospital has its own records office. Our trauma center page lists the designated trauma centers serving Riverside County and how each one takes records requests, with contacts, fees and timing where the hospital publishes them. For doctors' offices, urgent care and physical therapy, ask the front desk for the records request form.

Why records matter for your claim

Insurers decide what an injury is worth mostly from the records: when you were first seen, what you reported, what was found and what treatment followed. Gaps or missing records are one of the most common reasons claims are undervalued. Hospitals may also have a lien on your recovery for their charges (Civil Code § 3045.1); see medical liens.