Old hospital not sending records to new provider

[Need my records]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I moved in August hundreds of miles from where I had been living. I was/am pregnant, and my old OB's office said that I could have my new provider fax a medical release for my records so I wouldn't have to pay their fees to carry the records myself. The fees are outrageous and would have been over $200.

My new provider has been trying to get the records since mid-August. Multiple requests have been sent from her, as well as one from me (I mailed one with the return for the records being my new provider's address and fax). I'm due any day now, and still my new provider doesn't have my records. When either she or I try calling, we're sent to the main records department at the hospital the OB works at, and always given the same fax number. Each time we're told they didn't receive it, to just send it again, send it again.

Now a request being misplaced one I can believe, but we are at six of them "lost or misplaced" now. All records of early testing done we don't have, the records of the fertility treatments I had we don't have. To my understanding, providers must give a copy of records to other providers for sake of continuity of care. Since a c-section is, unfortunately, not out of the question entirely at this point and my uterus is misshaped, as discovered during some early testing, having these records is very important.

What else can we do to get these records, and what can we do if they never send them, or finally send them only after I give birth? I am not seeking money (unless not having the records results in damage to me), but would like they to face some sort of penalty, even if it's a fee to some state department, so hopefully stop them from lagging on medical records in the future.

[ecmst12]

You can file a complaint with the HIPAA board.

The best thing to do would have been to get a copy of your records IN YOUR HANDS before you moved...but too late now.

Have you tried sending the request via certified mail with a return envelope (postage paid of course) included?

[Need my records]

With the move being sprung on us (a job transfer moved up quite a few months that we were to be reimbursed for after moving, so we had to pay up front), we didn't have the money to spare at the time. We found ourselves having to come up with the money to move when we weren't expecting to move until February.

I've sent it delivery confirmation, and my provider has faxed and mailed once through certified mail.

Where do I find complaint info with the HIPAA board? I'm failing at google. This is ridiculous and adds some additional risk to my delivery that shouldn't be there.

[ecmst12]

[url=http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/]Health Information Privacy[/url]

First hit when you google HIPAA.

Also, [url]http://www.hipaa.org/[/url]