Medical Records

Request or Inspect Your Medical Records

We provide access to clear and complete information so you can make the best possible healthcare decisions. Requesting a copy of your medical records is easy, whether for your personal records, or to be sent to another medical facility.

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital is required, under the State of California's Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, to obtain an original and complete Authorization for Release of Health Information form before providing a copy of a patient's records or allowing inspection to anyone, including the patient or their representative. In certain cases a patient's physician, psychologist or social worker may also be required to approve a request.

Download and print the Authorization for Release of Health Information form:

Authorization for Release of Health Information in English / Authorization for Release of Health Information Form in Spanish

Be sure to provide the exact dates of treatment for which you are requesting information. Indicate the type of records you need and be sure to initial requests for information regarding AIDS/HIV, Psychiatric Care, or Alcohol/Drug Abuse.

While you may request the entire medical record, the summaries provided in the Discharge Summary, Operative Report, and History & Physical contain the most frequently requested information. If you are not sure what information you need, call us at (650) 497-8079 or drop by our office at:

750 Welch Road, Suite 214
Palo Alto, CA 94304
Phone: (650) 498-7013
Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:30 am-4:30 pm, CLOSED Holidays

Please allow 5 to 15 working days for requests to be processed. We will contact the requestor when records are ready for pick-up. A photo ID is required in order to pick up records.

Please note that radiology images, telemetry tapes and photos are not part of your medical record (your official records contain the reports that interpret those images, tapes and photos). Your request will be forwarded to the Radiology Film Library for processing. (650- 497-8376, option 3)

Medical records do not contain billing statements. Visit Financial and Insurance Information for instructions on how to obtain copies of your bills.

Inspection of medical records must be requested in writing and is done by appointment upon approval of request. Packard Children’s has the right to charge a fee for inspection of records. Please contact our Health Information Management Systems (HIMS) office for more information: (650) 497-8079.

If an individual other than the requestor is picking up the records, then that individual will need:

  • an original signed authorization letter from the requestor
  • a photo ID

Fees

  • There may be a retrieval charge for inspecting your records. There may also be a reproduction charge for creating a copy of your records (including electronic records).
  • If the medical record is being mailed to you, then you will also be charged for mailing costs.
  • If the reproduction charges are greater than $50, then pre-payment will be required before your records can be processed.
  • There is no fee to send records directly to another medical facility or medical office.


For more information, please call the HIMS Release of Information Office at (650) 497-8079.