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Email templates · Physical therapy

Email template to request your physical therapy records

You want a copy of your physical therapy records. Common reasons: you are switching to a new clinic, your surgeon or lawyer asked for them, you are filing an insurance or workers' compensation claim, or you just want to keep a copy of your progress notes. Under the federal health privacy law known as HIPAA, you have the right to see and get a copy of your own records, and the clinic generally has to respond within 30 days. Asking by email puts a date on your request, which matters if you need to show later that you asked. It also lets you say exactly what you want and where it should go, so you do not end up with a stack of the wrong pages.

Before you send

  • Your full name as it appears in the clinic's system, your date of birth, and roughly when you were treated. That is how they will find your file.
  • Exactly which records you want: the initial evaluation, daily treatment notes, progress reports, discharge summary, or everything.
  • Where the records should go: to you by email or mail, or straight to another provider. If it is another provider, have their name, fax or email, and phone number.
  • Whether you need the records by a specific date, for example before a surgery consult or a claim deadline.
  • Know that the clinic may charge a reasonable copying fee, and that many clinics need a signed release form; ask them to send it to you.
Subject Request for my physical therapy records 
Hi [clinic name] records team,

I was a patient at your clinic from roughly [start month and year] to [end month and year], treated by [therapist name if you remember]. My name is [full name] and my date of birth is [date of birth].

I'd like a copy of my records, specifically [the initial evaluation, all treatment notes, progress reports, and the discharge summary / everything in my file]. Please send them [to me at this email address / by mail to my address / directly to the named doctor at their practice, with fax number or email].

If you need me to fill out a signed release form, please send it and I'll return it the same day. If there is a copying fee, let me know the amount before you send.

I need these by [date], because [reason, for example I have a surgery consult that day]. Please confirm when you have sent them.

Thank you,
[Your name]
[Your phone number]

Everything in brackets is yours to fill in. Keep the rest as it is or change the tone to match how you write.

After you send

  • Expect a release form first, then the records within a week or two of returning it. HIPAA gives the clinic up to 30 days, and it can extend once by another 30 days if it tells you why in writing.
  • If the reply asks you to come in and sign in person, ask whether a scanned or e-signed form is acceptable; most clinics accept one.
  • A fee should cover copying and postage, not a flat "records fee" in the hundreds. If the amount seems high, ask for an electronic copy, which usually costs little or nothing.
  • If 30 days pass with no records, send one follow-up citing the date of your first request. After that, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.

Or don't send it yourself

Forward the job to myagent@standinfor.me and let StandIn run the whole thread.

StandIn is an email assistant that handles conversations with businesses for you. You write it one email saying what you need. It writes to the business, waits for the answer, follows up when they go quiet, pushes back on the number when it should, and brings the results back to your inbox for you to decide. You don't need to install an app or sign up. The first email you send is already the start of the task.

Hand this to StandIn opens an email to myagent@standinfor.me with the job already written out

To myagent@standinfor.me Subject Get my physical therapy records sent over 
Hi StandIn,

Please get a copy of my physical therapy records and make sure they reach the right place.

The clinic: [clinic name, city, and phone or email if you have it].
My details: [full name as the clinic has it, date of birth].
When I was treated: [approximate dates, therapist name if known].
What I want: [everything / specific documents].
Where they should go: [to me / to another provider, with their contact info].
Deadline: [date and why].

Handle the release form with me, check on the fee, and follow up with the clinic until the records have actually arrived.

Thanks,
[Your name]

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