Zoafile Blog

How To Obtain Medical Records From A Veterinary Provider

17 May 2021

This blog post aims to help you access animal medical records. There are many reasons to seek access to medical records from veterinary providers. A few common examples include:

  • Transitioning to a new veterinary service provider.
  • Adopting an animal with an unknown history.
  • Juggling information between multiple veterinary providers.
  • Disagreeing on a treatment plan with a veterinary provider.
  • Educating yourself on how to best provide for an animal with a lifelong chronic illness.
  • Obtaining a proof of vaccination for travel purposes.
  • Preserving access to the information if the practice closes.

Access to medical records varies by jurisdiction (state or province), by your relation to the animal (are you the current owner) and by the type record keeping in place (paper is still out there folks). In this blog post, I’ll provide tips for three jurisdictions: California, New York and Alberta. Hopefully three examples are enough to show the process so that you can apply it to your own situation.

Tip 1 - Understand That Medical Records Are Often Filtered

When requesting access to animal medical records, you may intend the request to mean please clone all information that you have on this animal and give me a copy. However, there can be significant differences in how the request is interpreted by various providers. For some, transparency is a key competitive advantage in engaging with digital natives. These progressive providers would love to copy as much data as possible but are constrained by the need to navigate complex regulatory and business environments. Others may still be catching up to evolving expectations around access to information. Some providers may even interpret the request to mean please give me the minimum information that I have a legal right to see.

Wherever a veterinary provider is on the transparency scale, even for progressive providers with the best intentions, a copy of animal medical records often differs from the original in significant ways. Knowing that filtering happens and when it happens is an important first step to gain access to complete records. Read on to learn some of the reasons behind filtering.

Tip 2 - Determine the Regulatory Framework That Applies

Most jurisdictions regulate the veterinarian profession as well as animal medical records. The records themselves are owned by the veterinary provider but animal owners are usually provided with a right to access a copy. Provisions are typically made to allow access by human society, peace officers or animal control officers. The exact definition of what is considered a medical record entry varies per jurisdiction. A fee may be allowed for a copy but in most jurisdictions, the copy cannot be withheld for any reason, including non payment of previous invoices.

Familiarize yourself with the veterinary medical regulations, recommendations and professional standards. In California, this would be the Veterinary Medical Board, in New York, this would be under the Office of the Professions, in Alberta this would be the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association. Locate more states here.

Familiarize yourself with the legal framework under which your veterinary provider operates. In California, this would be section 4857 of the Business and Profession Code. In New York, this would be Section 6714 of Article 35 of the Education Law. In Alberta, this would be the Section US-7 of the Practice Inspection and Practice Standards ByLaw.

Tip 3 - Go Back in Time

While some jurisdictions require more, veterinarians are at a minimum required to keep medical records for 3 years. Find out how far back records should go.

  • In California, 3 years following the last visit.
  • In New York, at least 3 years.
  • In Alberta, 5 years after the last visit.
Tip 4 - Minimize Export Filtering

Some veterinary practice management software provides an option to create a clients or veterinarians export of the medical records. Ask if the option exists and if available, ask for the veterinary version of the data export.

Tip 5 - Minimize Business Related Filtering

Some veterinary providers may associate risk with medical records copy requests. These providers may fear that the intent behind the request comes from a desire to build a malpractice case (a liability risk) or simply to switch providers (a business risk). Providers wanting to reduce both risks may be tempted to remove entries that are not directly medically relevant from the client copy. Here are three tips to reduce business related filtering:

  1. Clearly indicate your intent behind the request for animal medical records. For example, stating that this is a routine request to store information in your personal files, that you are happy with the services rendered and that you intend to continue the business relationship goes a long way to reduce this type of filtering.
  2. Explicitly request all internal notes and communications. Make it known that you understand the type of data that medical records may contain and politely ask to have it all included.
  3. Ask if entries have been omitted from the copy.
Tip 6 - Minimize Privacy Regulation Filtering

A portion of medical records data is subject to privacy regulations. For example, client information such as name and past communications are likely to fall under privacy laws in most jurisdictions. The veterinary provider is likely to interpret the various privacy regulations to scrub information off the copy, such as the address of previous owners. Here are four tips on retrieving past ownership information:

  1. Obtain written consent to provide personal information from previous owners and include it with your request.
  2. Ask the veterinary provider to retrieve consent from previous owners.
  3. Ask if any entries were removed from the copied records due to privacy regulations. Knowing that records were removed can then help you ask for additional information such as the number of previous owners and the length of ownership.
  4. Familiarize yourself with the privacy regulations in your jurisdiction. In California, this would be the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA). In New York, this would be the upcoming New York Privacy Act (NYPA). In Alberta, this would be the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).
Tip 7 - Access Medical Records from Closed Veterinary Practices

Veterinarians are required to register a current address of business with their board. When trying to locate animal records for a closed veterinary practice, ask the medical board for the current address of business to send the request.

Tip 8 - File a Complaint

If all else fails, consider filing a complaint to get access.

At zoafile.com, we are working hard to create collaboration software around animal medical records. We believe that software can help alleviate a lot of the issues above for both owners and their veterinary providers. If you have feedback, comments, thoughts or success stories using these tips, please email me at alex@zoafile.com to share!