This post by Robb reminds me of trying to get my medical records out of Kaiser Permanente after I moved to a new job with new insurance. Every doctor I ever saw in Kaiser's system had immediate access to the records. They always had a copy when I reached their office.

When I requested the records be sent to my new doctor (in writing on their form). No records arrived.

I called and put pressure on them in the records office. No records arrived.

I called and put pressure on the hospital administrator who is supposed to clean up messes. My doctor got a copy of a single hospital visit (from when I got rear-ended). This wasn't what I (or my doctor) cared about at all. It's been about a month now.

I called the hospital administrator back and was told everything would be at my doctor in a week. Guess what, no records have arrived in a week.

I went to the local Kaiser Hospital armed with a summary of HIPAA and some other medical rights laws. I filled out their little form and informed them that they could either have the records in my doctor's office in time for my next appointment (in about a week) or I would be returning with an attorney.

Guess what? They finally arrived on the day of my appointment. The doctor had me reschedule for the next day so he'd have time to read them.

Thank goodness this was a private company with legal obligations. If it had been the government, I'd have been screwed.