Your personal injury firm’s success depends on medical evidence that supports your clients’ claims. But the roles and responsibilities of those who manage these records may be unclear to legal staff.
The skilled team at National Record Retrieval (NRR) put together this guide just for you. Learn who records custodians are, their key responsibilities in maintaining and providing accurate records, and why understanding their role is essential for personal injury legal cases.
Records custodians are entities or individuals, typically hospital medical records departments or clinic managers. They are charged with maintaining, securing, and providing authorized access to a patient’s medical records in both physical and electronic formats. These document keepers ensure that patient privacy is maintained and that HIPAA regulations are complied with.
Records custodians also verify legal authorization to view these supporting records, like diagnostic tests, doctors’ notes, and treatment records. Before releasing documents, they confirm that requests comply with state and federal laws and usually require a subpoena.
A medical records custodian is responsible for securely storing, maintaining, and providing authorized access to patient health records. It is their job to protect patient data from unauthorized access, loss, or damage, while ensuring HIPAA compliance. They are also the individual that fulfills requests for medical records from patients, insurance companies, and legal representatives. Additional responsibilities include managing retention timelines and securely destroying records once they have met the specified time period.
Records custodians are essential to personal injury cases. This is because they manage, authenticate, and provide critical documentation your firm needs to prove liability, demonstrate damages, and secure fair compensation. These health care facility employees ensure records are properly maintained for legal admissibility and establishing a direct link between the accident and injuries. These responsibilities help prevent delays in legal proceedings.
Now that you have a better understanding of what records custodians are and their responsibilities, it is time to reach out to National Record Retrieval’s office today to discuss your firm’s medical record retrieval and review needs. Let us serve as your firm’s intermediary, bridging the gap between your attorneys and medical records custodians.
Instead of having your busy administrative team spend hours chasing records, we could help. Our services vastly streamline the legal, compliant, and timely acquisition of sensitive evidence nationwide, so you have more time to craft winning legal strategies.
