How to fax medical records

To fax medical records to another doctor, ask the office that holds them to send them, and give it the new office's fax number. If you're faxing records yourself, check the number first, send them, and call the office to confirm every page arrived.

Ask the doctor's office to fax records to another doctor

Call the office that has your records and ask for its medical records department. Give your name and date of birth, which records the new doctor needs, and the new office's fax number and contact name. Get that number from the new office itself.

Under HIPAA, you shouldn't need to sign an authorization or file an access request for this. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has an FAQ on sending records to a specialist, last reviewed December 28, 2022. It says a doctor doesn't need your written authorization to send your records to a provider who will treat you. HHS's FAQ comparing access requests with authorizations (last reviewed May 30, 2025) goes further. When you want your records shared among your treating providers, it says offices "can and should do so" without making you file either one. If the office hands you a form anyway, ask whether it is an access request, an authorization or something else.

Our medical cover sheet page sums up what HHS says about faxing health information between offices. Ask the new office to call you when the pages arrive.

Request a copy of your medical records

HIPAA gives you a right to copies of your medical record. HHS's Privacy Rule summary, last reviewed March 14, 2025, lists a few exceptions, such as psychotherapy notes. HHS's x-ray and delivery FAQs, both last reviewed June 24, 2016, say you can get copies in the form, format and manner you ask for. That holds if the office can readily produce them that way. HHS's page for patients was last reviewed July 31, 2026. It says that in most cases you can get a copy the way you want it, such as by email.

The HHS pages we read name mail and email, not fax. In our reading, the same test applies to fax, so ask the office whether it can fax your copy. Give a fax number where only you will pick up the pages.

You can also have the office send an electronic copy of your electronic health record straight to another person. In our reading of HHS's notice on a January 2020 court ruling, Ciox Health v. Azar, the right covers only that kind of copy. HHS's FAQ on sending a copy to someone else, last reviewed May 30, 2025, says you must make that request in writing and sign it. It must also clearly name who gets the records and where to send them. An office may accept a faxed or mailed copy of your signed request.

What to ask the records office

From the HHS page named in each row, read November 2, 2026, with the date HHS last reviewed it. The first four rows cover a copy for yourself.

If you think the office has violated your rights, HHS's page for patients says you can file a complaint with its Office for Civil Rights.

This guide sums up what HHS's public pages say and isn't legal advice.

Fax your own records or forms

HHS's summary of the Privacy Rule (last reviewed March 14, 2025) says the rule applies to health plans and health care clearinghouses. It also covers health care providers that send health information electronically for certain transactions. In our reading, patients aren't on that list, but HHS's examples of fax safeguards still make a useful checklist.

1. Go through the checklist first Our medical records fax cover sheet page lists what to check before you send.
2. Send the pages Use a fax machine or a store's fax counter. Our guide on how to send a fax from a fax machine has the steps and the digits to dial.
3. Call to confirm it arrived For anything with a deadline, ask the office whether it has every page. Keep your originals.

When you need to sign an authorization form

An authorization is your signed permission for an office to share your records. HHS's Privacy Rule summary was last reviewed March 14, 2025. It says an office needs one to share records outside treatment, payment and health care operations, unless the rule otherwise allows it. In our reading, you'll meet one when records go to someone who isn't treating you or paying for your care, such as a lawyer.

Under the regulation, 45 CFR 164.508, a valid authorization has at least these core elements.

• A specific description of the records it covers.
• Who may send them and who may receive them.
• The purpose. If you start the request yourself and don't give one, "at the request of the individual" is enough.
• An expiration date or event.
• Your signature and the date.

It must also be in plain language and include these required statements.

• Your right to revoke it in writing.
• Whether treatment, payment, enrollment or benefits can depend on your signing.
• That the person who receives your records could share them again.

HHS's summary says an office may not make treatment, payment, enrollment or benefits eligibility depend on your signing, except in limited circumstances.

HHS's FAQ comparing the two routes was last reviewed May 30, 2025. It says an office must disclose records on an access request unless an exception applies, and must act within 30 days. An authorization only allows the office to share, with no deadline. Per HHS's 2020 notice, the access fee limit doesn't apply to records sent to someone else. In our reading, a third-party request keeps the access route's 30-day clock only for an electronic copy of an electronic health record.

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