‘An urgent situation’: Woman runs into problems getting medical records transferred to new doctor

CHARLOTTE — A woman contacted Action 9 after her relative ran into problems having his medical records transferred when he changed doctors.

For privacy reasons, she asked Channel 9 not to use her real name, so we’ll call her “Mary.”

Mary was trying to help her relative who has heart problems. He was switching doctors from Tryon Medical Partners to another office Action 9 isn’t naming for his privacy as well.

She says they went to Tryon Medical and filled out the forms to transfer his records to the new doctor.

“We waited two weeks. We called the second provider and they told us, ‘No, we haven’t received the records,’” she said.

She says this went on for weeks. “Fine. We wait some more,” she said. She called again to check and the second provider still hadn’t received the records.

She says at this point, her relative was between doctors and really needed an appointment. “It was an urgent situation. He has a cardiac problem and he was running out of medication,” she said. “I was at my wit’s end. I didn’t know who to call.”

Mary emailed Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke and he emailed Tryon Medical.

Tryon Medical said, “[W]hen certain patients have medical records that are HUGE, sending them to another clinician’s office can be similar to trying to send an email that’s too big for your system to handle.” In that case, it uses “a third party ... to deliver the file securely.”

Tryon Medical says that in this case, it sent the file “six different times” and thought it was “successfully delivered,” but that “delivery and receipt are two different things” and it doesn’t know why the first attempts didn’t go through.

About 22 hours after Stoogenke emailed Tryon Medical, Mary emailed him and said the records made it to the new doctor, and since then she says her relative got his appointment and meds.

“I just want you to know that [we are] so appreciative and I always want you to take that with you,” she told Stoogenke.

Just remember, when you switch providers, still take the usual steps to transfer your records. But if it gets tricky:

- Ask your new doctor if he/she really needs all your records. Maybe you can start with a smaller, easier amount.

- You don’t want to be a pest but be persistent.

- It’s a good reminder that once you have your records, you might as well keep copies yourself.

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