Your medical records belong to you. Under both federal law and California law you have the right to see them, to get copies, and to have them sent to whoever you choose, and the provider cannot refuse because you have an injury claim, because you owe a balance, or because the request is inconvenient. In California, Health and Safety Code 123110 gives a patient the right to inspect records within five business days of a written request and to receive copies within 15 business days, subject to a reasonable copying charge. The federal HIPAA right of access sets a longer outer limit, but the California timeline controls for providers here.
The second half of the title is the more important half. If you have hired a lawyer for your injury claim, you should not be spending your recovery on hold with a records department. When Manoukian Law Firm takes a case, the client signs an authorization and the firm requests the records, the itemized bills and the imaging from every provider, tracks the deadlines and follows up when a department goes quiet. This guide explains how the process works so you understand what is being gathered and why, and so you can do it yourself if you are handling a small claim alone.
What to request, and why each piece matters
People usually ask for “my records” and receive a visit summary. That is not enough for an injury claim. A complete request names four things.
The first is the medical record itself: the emergency department chart, the physician’s notes from each visit, nursing notes, the history you gave at intake, the diagnoses, the treatment plan, the discharge instructions and the referral orders. A note written the day of a crash that says “restrained driver, rear-ended on the 118 at Tampa, neck pain since” is contemporaneous proof of how and when the injury happened.
The second is the itemized bill, with the billing codes attached. A summary statement showing a balance due is not an itemized bill. Under Howell v. Hamilton Meats, the medical damages that can be recovered in California are the amounts actually paid or owed, not the amounts first charged, which is explained in our guide to billed versus paid medical damages. Proving that number requires the itemized charges, the insurance adjustments and the payments, line by line.
The third is imaging: the actual X-ray, CT and MRI files, usually delivered on a disc or through a download link, along with the radiologist’s written report. The report alone is often what gets sent. Ask for both.
The fourth is the billing and insurance correspondence: explanation of benefits statements, lien notices, and letters from a health plan asking about a third party. Those documents show who paid what and who expects to be repaid, which is covered in our article on who pays medical bills after a crash.
The rules that give you the right
Two laws work together. The first is the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s right of access, a federal rule that requires a covered provider to give a patient access to the patient’s own records, in the form the patient asks for when that form is readily producible, within a stated time limit and for no more than a reasonable, cost-based fee. The federal limit is generally 30 days.
The second is California Health and Safety Code 123110, which is faster. A patient who makes a written request is entitled to inspect the records within five business days and to receive copies within 15 business days of the request. The provider may charge reasonable copying costs, and the statute puts a ceiling on what “reasonable” means. When the state rule is shorter than the federal one, the shorter rule applies, so 15 business days is the number to hold a California provider to. There are narrow exceptions, mostly for certain mental health records, but an ordinary injury chart does not fall into them.
Two practical points follow. Make the request in writing, dated, and keep a copy, because the clock runs from the written request. And use the provider’s own authorization form when it has one, since a request on the provider’s form is harder to reject for a technicality.
Provider by provider: where to send the request
Every large health system has a department that handles nothing but records requests, usually called Health Information Management or Release of Information. Here is what to expect from the providers that treat most of the injured people who call us from the northwest Valley.
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser members in the Valley are usually seen at the Woodland Hills Medical Center on De Soto Avenue or at the Panorama City campus, with the Chatsworth and Northridge medical offices for follow-up. Kaiser keeps a single electronic chart across its Southern California facilities, so one request generally covers the emergency visit, the primary care follow-up and the physical therapy notes together. Visit summaries and test results are available through the member portal. For a complete copy, submit a written authorization to the facility’s Release of Information office, and ask separately for the itemized billing statement, which comes from a different department. Imaging discs are a third request, made to radiology.
Northridge Hospital Medical Center
Northridge Hospital on Roscoe Boulevard handles a large share of the emergency visits from crashes on the 118, Nordhoff, Reseda and Devonshire. The hospital’s Health Information Management department processes requests on its own authorization form, submitted in person, by mail or by fax. Ask for the complete emergency department record, including the triage notes and the nursing flow sheets, not just the discharge paperwork. The emergency physicians who staff the department often bill separately from the hospital, so a complete set of bills can require a second request to the physician group.
Providence Holy Cross Medical Center
Providence Holy Cross in Mission Hills, near the interchange of the 118 and the 405, is the trauma center that receives many of the serious crash and pedestrian cases from the north Valley. Providence runs records requests through a system-wide process, with a patient portal for summaries and results. For a trauma admission, ask for the full inpatient chart, the operative reports, the consult notes from each service and the discharge summary. The bills for a trauma stay arrive from the hospital, the surgeons, the anesthesiologists and the radiologists, and each may need its own request.
West Hills Hospital and Medical Center
West Hills Hospital on Sherman Way serves West Hills, Canoga Park, Woodland Hills and the west end of Chatsworth. The medical records department accepts written authorizations and will provide the emergency and inpatient records and, on request, the itemized bill. As with Northridge, the emergency physicians and consulting doctors commonly bill separately. If you were transported there after a crash on Topanga Canyon Boulevard or Valley Circle, the ambulance company will also have a run report and a bill, which is one more request. Our West Hills injury page covers the local courts, roads and hospitals in more detail.
Adventist Health
Adventist Health Glendale and Adventist Health Simi Valley bracket the Valley on the east and the west. Both use a written authorization form and offer a portal for summaries. Request the record, the itemized bill and the imaging as three separate items, and expect separate physician bills.
Urgent care, telehealth, chiropractors, physical therapists and counselors
Smaller providers are where requests most often stall, not out of resistance but because a two-person front office has no records department. Urgent care chains along Devonshire and Topanga Canyon usually route requests through a corporate portal. Telehealth companies send records through the app or by email. Chiropractors and physical therapists keep daily treatment notes and a running ledger, and both are needed. Mental health records carry additional privacy protections, so a request for those should be specific. In every case, put the request in writing and note the date.
The mistakes that slow requests down
The first is asking for the wrong thing. “Everything” produces either a visit summary or a thousand pages of duplicates. Name the four categories above.
The second is signing a broad authorization for the insurance company instead. The insurer for the driver who hit you will send one early, often within the first week, and its forms are typically written to reach your entire medical history from every provider, going back years, so that an old back complaint can be found and blamed for the new one. Nothing in California law requires you to sign it. Your own records request, limited to the injury and the treatment for it, is a different document, and the difference is explained in our article on what happens when you call.
The third is not following up. A request that has passed 15 business days without a response deserves a phone call and a second written request citing Health and Safety Code 123110 and the date of the original. Most departments respond once the deadline is named.
The fourth is forgetting the bills that arrive separately. In a single emergency visit, the hospital, the emergency physician group, the radiologist and the ambulance company may all bill on their own, and all four bills belong in the claim.
Why this matters more for some injuries
For a fracture, the record is short. For a concussion or a more serious brain injury, the record is the case. Symptoms often appear over days or weeks, and a chart that documents headaches, memory complaints and light sensitivity at each visit carries the claim. The emergency department note that says “no loss of consciousness, discharged home” is only the first page. The primary care follow-up, the neurology referral and any neuropsychological testing complete the picture, and an insurer that sees only the first page will argue there was no injury. Our brain injury page explains how those cases are documented. The insurer reads the timeline, and the timeline lives in the records.
How the firm gathers records for clients
When a client signs a representation agreement with Manoukian Law Firm, the same packet includes a records authorization. The firm sends written requests to every provider the client names, and to the ones the client forgot, such as the ambulance company and the radiology group, asking for the record, the itemized bill, the imaging and the insurance correspondence. The requests are logged, the deadline is calendared, and the follow-up call is made when a department is late. As bills come in, they are checked against the record to make sure no visit was missed and no charge belongs to someone else.
The attorney on your case reads the records and uses them to write the demand. The firm helps clients in English, Spanish and Armenian, and meets at the Chatsworth office on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, by phone or video, or in the hospital.
Key points
- Your medical records are yours; California Health and Safety Code 123110 provides for inspection within five business days and copies within 15 business days of a written request.
- Request four things from each provider: the complete record, the itemized bill, the imaging files with the reports, and the insurance correspondence.
- Hospitals, emergency physicians, radiologists and ambulance companies usually bill separately, and every bill belongs in the claim.
- Do not sign the other driver’s insurer’s broad authorization; make your own limited request instead.
- If you have hired a lawyer, the firm requests the records for you with a signed authorization, so you can focus on treatment.
Frequently asked questions
Can a hospital charge me for my records?
Yes, but only a reasonable copying charge, and California law limits what can be charged. Many providers now deliver electronic copies at little or no cost.
Can the provider refuse because my bill is unpaid?
No. The right of access does not depend on the account being current. If a records department says otherwise, put the request in writing again and cite Health and Safety Code 123110.
The insurance company says it needs my records before it can make an offer. Should I sign its form?
Sign nothing until you have read it. The form usually reaches every provider you have ever seen. A limited authorization covering the injury-related treatment is enough for a claim, and a lawyer can provide the records directly so that no open-ended authorization is needed.
How long does it take to get everything?
Each provider must respond within 15 business days of a written request, but a case with a hospital stay, several physician groups, imaging and physical therapy can involve a dozen requests, and the last bill often arrives weeks after treatment ends. Requests go out as treatment happens, not at the end, so the file is complete when the demand is ready.
If you were hurt in West Hills, Northridge or anywhere in California and want the records gathered and the claim handled by an attorney, call Manoukian Law Firm at (818) 818-5031 or reach us through our contact page. Consultations are free and there is no fee unless we win.
