What You Need to Know About Requesting Copies of Medical Records

The authorization must be:
- Completed in full
- Addressed to Children’s Hospital of Alabama
- Signed by the patient if:
  - The patient’s age today is 19 years or older -OR-
  - The patient is an Emancipated Minor (married, divorced or born a child)
    - Females under the age of 19 years who are pregnant or who have borne a child can authorize the release of medical records of their child.
- Signed by either of the patient’s parents or the patient’s legal guardian if the patient is under the age of 19 years. A copy of the parent’s driver’s license is required. **If the requesting parent’s name is not in the child’s record, a copy of the birth certificate must be presented to establish parental relationship.**
- The following legally applies to Alabama MEDICAID patients for all casualty and litigation cases:
  - Health Management Systems (HMS) is under contract with Alabama Medicaid to process the "Request for Medical Records" and perform the evaluation and case tracking functions of all casualty and litigation cases. Medical record request forms are to be faxed to HMS at 866-274-5974. To contact HMS by phone regarding a medical record request or for information related to a casualty or litigation case, you may reach HMS at 877-252-8949. https://www.medicaid.alabama.gov/
As allowed by Federal and State regulations, reproductions fees for copies of medical records may be required as applicable; an CIOX invoice (Children’s release of information vendor) will accompany the copies of medical records. According to Alabama Code 12-21-6.1 (reproduction and delivery of medical records)
- $6.50 Flat rate if everything was transferred from DMS/EMR (electronic copy) to a CD.
- $0.12 per page
- The copy fees are higher for producing microfilmed records.
- Reasonable costs may be allowed for production of a CD.
- *Patients are not charged a search/retrieval fee.
- No charge is made for continued care requests received from other health care providers (hospitals, physician offices, clinics, etc.) Exceptions to these fee schedules are noted by Peer Review Organization contracts and Disability Determination Services standard fee payment..
- Question or follow-up calls regarding the status of requests may be directed to Children’s Hospital of Alabama, Release of Information staff at 205-638-9728.