Medical Records Request

By law, we have up to 30 days to fulfill a complete records request. In practice, most patient requests are completed in 7–14 business days. Records already available in your patient portal are accessible immediately. If your request requires pulling external records (imaging from another facility, for example), the turnaround may be at the longer end.

Yes, in several situations:

• Records available through your patient portal are always free.
• Billing records are free to patients and legal representatives.
• If your records are being sent to another treating provider for continuity of care, no fee is charged.
• Patients who qualify under our Financial Hardship Policy (Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, etc.) are not charged.

Note your deadline in the “Additional Instructions” field of the form. For genuinely urgent clinical situations, call the office at (973) 966-1111 and ask to speak with our HIM team. For records being transferred directly to another provider, we can usually fax or securely transmit them within 24–48 hours.

Psychotherapy notes — meaning a therapist’s personal process notes kept separately from the rest of the chart — require a separate, specific authorization under HIPAA. If you need these, indicate so explicitly on your form. Standard mental health treatment summaries, diagnoses, medication lists, and visit notes are part of your regular medical record and are released through this same process.

Records that other providers sent to us (consultation reports, outside lab results, prior imaging) become part of your Madison Medical chart and are released to you on request, the same as our own documentation. However, we cannot release records that originated elsewhere directly back to a third party — those should be requested from the original source.

You have the right to request an amendment. Submit a written request to our Privacy Officer (contact info below) describing what you believe is incorrect and what you’d like changed. We’ll respond within 60 days. If we agree, we’ll amend the record. If we disagree, you may submit a statement of disagreement that becomes a permanent part of your file. Either way, your input is documented.

Per New Jersey regulation, we retain adult medical records for a minimum of seven years from the date of last entry. Records for minors are retained for at least seven years past the age of majority (i.e., until the patient turns 25). After the retention period, records are destroyed using HIPAA-compliant methods (shredding, secure digital destruction) — they cannot simply be requested back.

Generally, yes — for children under 18, a parent or legal guardian can request the records. Exceptions exist for sensitive services a minor may have legally obtained on their own (such as reproductive health, mental health treatment, or substance use treatment in certain circumstances under New Jersey law). In these cases, the minor’s separate consent may be required.

Submit through Path 03 (Third Party) and provide:

• A current HIPAA-compliant authorization signed by your client (within the last 12 months)
• A letter of representation on firm letterhead
• A subpoena, court order, or other legal process if applicable

Third-party requests are billed at $1.00 per page plus a $10 search fee. Invoices are sent prior to release.

Yes. All form submissions are transmitted over encrypted HTTPS, stored on a HIPAA-compliant server, and accessed only by authorized HIM staff. Document uploads use a separate secure portal that meets HIPAA’s technical safeguards. We never request your full Social Security number, financial account information, or driver’s license number through this page — only the last 4 digits of SSN, which is used solely for identity verification.