Records requests

When a patient, a parent or guardian, or an outside office asks for copies of a patient's records, log the request in NeatPractice. NeatPractice counts the deadline, keeps a copy of exactly what you released and prints the letter that goes with it.

You need permission to send documents to work with records requests.

Who can ask#

• Patient: the patient asks for their own records.
• Personal representative: someone who acts for the patient, such as the parent or legal guardian of a minor.
• Third party: anyone else, such as another clinic, a school or a law office. A third party gets records only with the patient's signed release of information on file. Add the release under Consents on the chart.

Log a request#

1. Go to Docs > Records requests and click New Request, or open the patient's chart, go to Records requests and click New Request.
2. Choose the patient, who asked and the day the clinic received the request.
3. Choose the records asked for, the format (electronic or paper) and how they should go out.
4. For a personal representative or a third party, enter their name and the address, fax number or email they gave. For a third party, pick the release on file. You can log the request before the release arrives.
5. Turn on Limited to dates of service if the request covers only some dates, and Charges a fee to record a fee for copies, supplies and postage.
6. Click Log Request.

Follow the deadline#

Records requests opens on open requests, the nearest deadline first. The Due column shows how many days are left; a request past its deadline shows Overdue in red. Drop the Status filter to see closed requests too. The patient panel narrows the list to the patients you pick.

Extend the deadline once#

If you need more time, you can extend the deadline by 30 days, once per request, as long as you tell the requester in writing before the first deadline.

1. Open the request, click the menu next to the footer buttons and choose Extend Deadline.
2. Enter the day the notice went out and the reason, written for the requester.
3. Click Extend Deadline, then Print Letter to print the notice.

Release records#

1. Open the request and click Release Records.
2. Choose the signed documents and chart files to release. NeatPractice sends the stored signed copies, never a new print.
3. Choose how they go out:
   • Secure email sends a link; the recipient opens the documents with a one-time code sent to a different email address or by text message. Secure email carries signed documents only.
   • Fax sends from your clinic's fax line with a cover page. It is offered only while your clinic has the Fax add-on; a request that asked for a fax then starts with no method chosen, so pick secure email, mail or pickup.
   • Mail and Pickup go out on paper: after you release, click Download Packet and print it.
   • Clinic transfer offers the documents to another clinic that uses NeatPractice. Enter the transfer code the receiving clinic gives you; the dialog shows the clinic's name once the code matches. See Chart transfers.
4. For mail or pickup, enter the Released on date the records were handed over. A fax or secure email goes out now, so it is always released today.
5. Click Release Records.

If the fax line or the email cannot deliver, the request stays open and nothing counts as released. A fax refused for good also reopens a request that was already released, and so does a clinic transfer the receiving clinic declines or that could not be copied. The request shows why its last release did not reach the requester. Check the number, address or transfer code and release the records again from the request.

NeatPractice keeps the packet it built: a cover letter on your letterhead listing every document, followed by the pages themselves. Download Packet always returns that same copy, so you can show exactly what was released and when. A faxed release also appears in the sent fax log, and a secure email in the chart's email log.

Release the complete record#

When a patient asks for their whole record (their HIPAA right of access), you can hand over one file instead of picking documents.

1. Open the request and click Export Complete Record. You need permission to export patient charts and to read notes.
2. Enter the code from your authenticator app, unless you entered one in the last 15 minutes, and click Export Record.
3. NeatPractice builds the file in the background and notifies you when it is ready. The request shows Complete record with its status.
4. Click Release Records, choose Mail or Pickup and turn on Hand over the complete record export. You can release other documents beside it or none at all.
5. Download the file from My exports in Reports and give it to the requester on the media you agreed.

The cover letter lists the complete record among what was released. See the complete patient record for what the file holds.

Send an update after an addendum#

Released records can still get addenda; NeatPractice never holds them back. When a signed document you released gets an addendum afterward, the request shows Changed since released in the list, and the request lists each changed document with how many addenda it got and when the last one was signed.

1. Open the released request and click Send Update.
2. NeatPractice logs a new request for the same requester, release and delivery method, received today, with a note naming the original release date. It opens with Release Records and the changed documents already chosen.
3. Check the delivery details and click Release Records.

The original request and its packet stay exactly as they went out. Once the update releases the amended documents to the same requester, the original no longer shows Changed since released.

Deny a request#

1. Open the request, click the menu next to the footer buttons and choose Deny Request.
2. Choose the reason and explain it in plain words; the explanation prints on the letter.
3. Click Deny Request, then Print Letter.

The denial letter tells the requester how to file a complaint. When the reason is a risk of harm to the patient or someone else, it also tells them they can ask for a review by a licensed professional who took no part in the decision.

Withdraw a request#

If the requester takes the request back, or it was logged by mistake, choose Withdraw Request from the menu and say why. The request stays on record as withdrawn; nothing is deleted.

Fees#

Record a fee under Charges a fee when you log or edit the request. Keep it to the reasonable cost of copies, supplies and postage. The fee prints on the cover letter. NeatPractice does not post it to the patient's account; take and post any payment there as usual.