If you get a request for medical records, it’s intimidating enough to evaluate whether you can release those documents compliantly — so if the request is for children’s medical records, it adds another layer of complexity to the situation.
Discover how you should respond when someone sends you a request to release children’s medical records.
Only Custodial Parents Have Rights
Requests for pediatric medical records — particularly when you get the request from a lawyer or court — are often related to custody cases involving parents who are splitting up. And before you move forward with sending out medical records for any minor patient, you must know which parent is considered the custodial parent.
Why? Because only the custodial parent has rights to medical records. If a parent has had their custodial rights stripped or if they’ve relinquished them, they don’t have rights to see the records and their signature can’t approve a release, according to the law. If you don’t know who the custodial parent is, always request documentation.
Get the Paperwork
Custodial agreements aren’t the only types of paperwork you may need to see before releasing children’s medical records. Even if parents are happily married, you can’t simply trust that they’re entitled to their kids’ records. Documentation such as a birth certificate, a power of attorney, a foster care agreement, an adoption decree or other paperwork will prove whether they’re legally considered the patient’s parent.
State Laws Differ
Each state has its own laws on which records parents can see. For instance, in some states, records involving sexually transmitted infections, abortions, psychiatric conditions or other situations may not be available to parents because in these situations, the patient is considered an “emancipated minor.”
Or, they may only be available if the pediatric patients is under a certain age. For instance, some states say parents can see these records only for patients under 15, while others say these records can be released only if the provider believes it’s in the parents’ best interest.
Bring in a Lawyer
Whether a parent walks into your practice requesting children’s medical records, there are so many different aspects that can put you into deep legal trouble if you don’t know the ropes. Your best bet is to bring in a qualified healthcare attorney who can iron out the state laws, translate subpoenas, verify parental documentation and help you make the call on when these records can be released.
Because the financial penalties for improperly releasing medical records are extremely steep, spending money on a lawyer can ultimately save you money in the long run from doing it incorrectly.
It takes a lot of know-how to compliantly respond when someone requests children’s medical records from your practice. Let attorney Michael R. Lowe, Esq., help with his expert online training, Subpoena Release of Medical Records: Avoid Costly Response Errors. Register today!
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