An injured person’s medical records and bills are extremely important to any personal injury claim. The liability claims adjuster at an insurance company – who is ultimately the person that decides whether to pay you for your accident – may argue that you failed to complain of pain or report a particular injury to a doctor.
The good news is that while you are relatively powerless over what the doctor writes in your medical records, you are allowed to view and obtain a copy of much of their health information and to have corrections made to such information. See, for example, 45 C.F.R. §§ 164.524, 164.526.
The Privacy Rule gives you the right to have amendments or corrections made to the PHI (Patient Health Information) in your health records or other designated record set held by a covered entity. See 45 C.F.R. § 164.526. If there is a mistake, the covered entity can correct or append additional information to the individual’s health information held in the covered entity’s health records system.
At the least, perhaps the doctor will add your letter – that lists your complaints or injuries – to your medical records. This can combat the insurance adjuster from arguing that you were not injured – or not injured badly – because you did not have certain complaints. (e.g. neck pain, back pain, etc.) I suggest sending any corrections to a doctor via email, fax and certified mail return receipt requested. By sending your corrections or additions in writing using all these forms of communication, you will have sufficient documentation to prove that the documents that you sent were received.
Reading your medical records and checking for errors can make your injury claim a stronger one.
Leave a Reply