Thank you for your question regarding the manner in which the medical records from Dr. Bennett’s office are being handled. We understand your concerns, and want to be clear and consistent from patient to patient. It wouldn’t be fair if some records were treated differently than others. At Legacy Information, LLC, we are committed to ethical, fair and honest business practices.
As you know, Dr. Bennett has retired from pediatric practice after a career of more than 40 years of service to his patients and their community. As a physician retires, an important consideration is how to maintain the safety, availability and integrity of the medical charts of those patients. The laws of most states (including Washington State) require that medical records of patients be preserved until patients are 21 years of age, and/or at least 7 years following their last visit to the office regardless of age, whichever is longer. For pediatricians like Dr. Bennett, this means that the 6000 paper charts of his patients [over 100 boxes of charts] need to be safely stored in a facility in order that at anytime over the next 21 years, appropriate portions of those charts can be copied and delivered to properly authorized and vetted individuals—and to none other.
Several points are obvious from these considerations. First, chart management is an issue common to all retiring physicians, in one way or another, both for those using paper charts and those using electronic medical records. The logistics certainly vary with these two information management systems, but the fundamental precepts are the same. If another provider takes over the medical practice of the retiring practitioner, that new provider generally assumes the duty of information management. Dr. Bennett very much wanted to provide continuity of care of his patients at the same office following his retirement, and was deeply disappointed when two prospects backed out at the final moments. Second, for those many retiring physicians who—like Dr. Bennett—must simply close their practices and offices, there are businesses like ours standing ready to perform all the needed functions related to legacy information management of these medical records. Third, such information management is for the long term, and not to be entered into lightly. Fourth, this certainly comes at a cost—as with every business, there is a cost to each and every function associated with the business.
Effective May 1, 2024, Legacy Information assumed the responsibility for all of the physical charts which had been located at Dr. Bennett’s Chattaroy office. Our commitment to him is that we will faithfully care for these for the next 21 years, so that he can be relieved of the responsibility for these charts in his retirement. In the case of many retiring physicians, the fiduciary duty to maintain the security and availability of charts extends significantly beyond the lifetime of those physicians. Our tasks include making sure that all of a retiring physician’s patients can access a copy of the information which their physician had recorded in their chart, while assuring that no unauthorized persons can do so. This is simply for the security and privacy of every patient.
At our direction, Dr. Bennett has begun the process for you on his website [davidbennettmd.com], by including our generic Medical Records Release Form at the bottom of the “Request Records” page. Once Legacy Information has verified that your entries on the form are consistent with data in your patient’s chart, we will send a PayPal invoice to the email address you have provided and double checked. In addition to supporting the above functions of Legacy Information, LLC, this fee is also an effective deterrent against scam artists trying to access random medical records from around the globe. Hackers don’t pay for information—they steal it! The fee for a copy of all those entries which Dr. Bennett has made into your chart over the years— including your immunization record—is $30. This is in accordance with industry standards and is less than the fees allowed by the Washington State Administrative Code WAC 246-08-400, which allows $28 plus $1.24 per page. This includes all the records of your office visits with him, and generally totals 5-20 pages depending, of course, on how often you were seen. After your $30 payment to Legacy Information, LLC, has arrived at PayPal, we will email you a digital copy of the medical records you have requested. It is then your responsibility to securely transmit those records to your new medical provider, either by fax, email, or in person at your (first) new patient visit with them. It is also highly recommended that you keep either a physical or digital copy of the records for the long term. If you have seen specialists, or have been hospitalized, and have need of those records, please contact those providers directly for copies of their medical records. Records which are sent by specialists or hospitals (and received by primary care doctors) can be incomplete and, therefore, potentially confusing.
Sincerely, Legacy Information, LLC