A study conducted by the Yale School of Medicine revealed patients face huge challenges accessing their medical records. The authors of the study contacted the medical records departments of 83 top ranked U.S. hospitals across 29 states to determine whether hospitals are complying with federal and state regulations regarding patients requests to access their medical records. The study found not only the information patients are receiving differs depending on the hospital but also some of these entities are not complying with applicable laws. Despite the existence of legal protections such as HIPAA, there are many barriers patients have to overcome to access their medical information.
