Dr.R.adford - Regina

Before requesting that you receive a copy of your chart or have a copy sent to your new family physician, please have the discussion whether this needs to be done. For myself I do not usually  request a copy of the old chart as most of the information was not particularly useful, out of date or available online through E Health. I found that taking a thorough history was far more efficient in helping me understand my new patients. If a specific document is required from your family physician, this can be faxed directly to them upon their request at no charge.

In addition, your medications for the past 3 years, your Lab work for the past 6 years, radiology reports for the past 6 years, hospitalization reports and immunization history are available through E Health which interfaces with almost all the electronic medical records in physician's offices now.

Lastly, patient information is retained by me for 6 years from your last visit with exception of minors (children less than 18 years of age).  For minor's  patient information is retained for 2 years after they reach the age of majority or  or 6 years after last  patient visit, which ever is longer. Because of my records are now all electronic this will be available upon request as per these future dates.

There is a small charge for providing a copy  or transfer of your medical record. The cost of providing a copy  or transfer of your medical record is not covered under Saskhealth. This principal is recognized by the Saskatchewan Medical Association and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan. I am charging less than the recommended fee by the Saskatchewan Medical Association for processing requests for medical records. Of course, if you are in financial distress, I will not charge you for this information. I also encourage you to keep a copy of your own chart if you wish as there will be a repeat charge  for further requests. I have made an allowance for a discount family rate when the records are forwarded by secure e-mail Medeo for families with children who were still minors.

For those of you requesting a paper chart, please discuss with my staff who will notify you of the cost as this varies greatly from patient to patient depending upon the number of pages that need to be printed.

  Unfortunately I have to  forward and or print out the whole chart as these requests are processed by my support staff and do not have the expertise to pick out relevant information from non relevant information.  Many patient's charts are 100  2 well over 300 documents and this is why I am encouraging use of the secure e-mail.  So to print out a single 300 page chart would be a cost of $130.00 =$30 (processing )  plus $100 dollars for printing.  This is versus  a $ 30 dollar charge for having your chart  emailed to your secure Medeo account.   There you can print out the the relevant material and provide your new  family  with it or put the information on a  usb  memory storage device to give to them.

Clinic is recently changed to a online faxing system it is quite a bit more efficient than her old system.  So we are now able to fax your chart if requested to your new family physician.

At this time there is no mechanism currently to transfer records to the family physician by secure e-mail.

I am sorry that I cannot provide your information on a CD disc as I do not have the necessary electronic gear or knowledge to do this. 

Lastly, for all the reasons I described above I encourage you to discuss with your family physician whether you really need your medical chart. However, if you wish it is certainly available to you.