How to Prepare a Medical Records Request for Faxing

This guide is for patients in the United States and people authorized to act for them. It covers preparing the request you send to a healthcare provider, rather than a clinic's workflow for transmitting patient records.

1. Choose the correct request or release form

Asking for your own copy and authorizing disclosure to another person or organization are distinct requests. Start with the provider's current medical records instructions and select the form that matches your purpose.

You may see terms such as medical records request, Release of Information (ROI) or authorization to disclose health information. Read what the form covers rather than assuming the titles are interchangeable.

For example, Cleveland Clinic provides instructions for requesting records for yourself and for requesting that outside records be sent to Cleveland Clinic. The latter request goes to the outside provider that holds those records.

HIPAA generally gives individuals a right to access their own records held by covered providers and health plans, with exceptions. A patient access request is not automatically the same as a third-party disclosure authorization. See HHS's patient access guidance.

2. Complete the details needed to locate and deliver the records

Use the provider's instructions to complete the relevant fields. This checklist helps you review the request before sending.

Be specific about what you need, but request the full record if that is your intention. A portal summary and a complete requested record are not necessarily the same thing.

Follow the provider's identity-verification instructions. Include only the identifying information and supporting documents requested for that process.

3. Distinguish the request destination from the records destination

The fax you are preparing normally goes to the provider's Medical Records, Health Information Management (HIM) or Release of Information department. Verify that department's request number on the current form or official website.

The recipient named inside the form is where the provider should deliver the records. This might be you, a new doctor's office or another authorized recipient. Verify that recipient's details separately.

You can fax a request and ask for records through another available delivery method, such as a patient portal, secure electronic delivery or mail. Select the option you want under the provider's instructions; do not assume the records will come back to the number used to send your request.

4. Check who must sign

If you are requesting your own records, follow the signature instructions for that request. If you are helping another adult, they may sign the form themselves while you help prepare and send it.

Signing on someone's behalf is different. The provider may require documentation showing that you have authority to act as the patient's personal representative. Being a relative does not, by itself, establish authority to exercise all of the patient's access rights. HHS explains that the scope of a representative's authority depends on applicable law and the circumstances in its personal representative guidance.

Check the provider's requirements for a minor, a deceased patient or another situation involving a representative. Use its accepted signing method and include the applicable supporting paperwork.

5. Prepare a readable fax packet

Arrange your documents in this order unless the provider specifies another:

1. A brief cover sheet, if useful or required.
2. The completed request or release form, including every required page.
3. Identity-verification or representative documents, when required.

Keep the cover sheet focused on routing: records department, your callback details, submission date and total page count. Put the detailed patient information in the request form rather than repeating it unnecessarily. You can use a Fax.Plus cover sheet template and a short note such as:

Re: Medical records request
Please find the completed request form and supporting documents attached. This fax contains [number] pages, including the cover sheet. Please contact me at [callback number] if you need clarification to process the request.

Scan paper forms with all edges visible and pages upright. For a filled PDF, save a separate printable copy with your entries fixed into the page, then reopen it to check answers, dates and signatures. Follow the Fax.Plus PDF preparation instructions. Keep the original file and follow any requirement for a verifiable digital signature before creating the fax copy.

6. Send the request and keep a useful record

For occasional sending, our guide to sending a fax without a subscription explains the Free-plan allowance and prepaid credit options.

Open Fax.Plus, enter the verified request fax number with its country code, and upload the packet in order. Check the recipient number, attachments and your plan's sending limits before sending. Our guide to faxing a form explains the sending workflow.

Save the exact request and its confirmation report from Sent. The report records the transmission result and helps you reference your submission when following up. Ask the records department to confirm that it has logged the request and whether it needs anything else to process it.

If you need the records for an upcoming appointment, give the department the appointment date and ask your treating office about its process for obtaining records needed for care. Fax delivery and records preparation are separate steps.

If you are collecting records to support an insurance claim, use our insurance claim packet checklist to organize the documents for the insurer after you receive them.