Disability Claims, Medical Record Release, and the Law Here are some thoughts on disability claims, the onus on providers to release the medical records for review, and the related legal aspects.
Medical records are indispensable to prove disability and obtain the due benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This recent news highlighted the plight of a 59-year old Cohoes woman, Candas Woodard, who desperately needs her medical records to claim increased disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Apart from disabilities connected to military service, she has other disabilities as well, and lives on disability payments she receives from the VA and SSA. The issue here is that Ms. Woodard’s doctor is withholding her records on the grounds that she has not paid her bill.
Review of Pertinent Medical Records Vital to Prove Disability Candace Woodard had a botched C-section in 1979 during her three-year tenure at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, for which she is hoping to obtain increased disability insurance from the VA. She has been arguing with the VA for an increase for ten long years, and it is only last week that the VA acknowledged that her condition warrants a higher rating on the VA benefits scale. However, the problem now is that she has to produce the relevant medical records for review so that the concerned authorities can proceed with the case and possibly take a decision in her favor. For this she needs the above mentioned doctor who performed a laparoscopy on her to release her healthcare records. She had gone outside the VA system and the free medical care it provides to obtain the laparoscopy test because her VA doctor would not do this test. Now she requires her laparoscopy records as well as a statement from the doctor.
The Legal Angle Let us consider the legal angle here. The HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Privacy Rule gives patients, with a few exceptions, the right to inspect, review and receive a copy of their medical records and billing records held