Barnes-Jewish Hospital patient rights assures each patient that his/her treatment is confidential and will not be revealed to anyone without proper authorization. Since all Barnes-Jewish employees are involved directly or indirectly in patient care, confidentiality is an important issue for everyone. Breaches of confidentiality carry serious consequences.
To obtain a copy of a medical record, contact the Health Information Management correspondence unit or submit a valid authorization form signed and dated by the patient or legal guardian. To avoid a delay, please make sure to answer all questions on the authorization form. Certain restrictions and fees may apply.
Medical Records Authorization Forms
The following forms are in PDF format and require Adobe Reader software. If you do not have Adobe Reader, it can be downloaded for free at get.adobe.com/reader.
To Request Your or Your Child’s Records
Patients and legal guardians, please complete the Request for Access to Protected Health Information by Individual Patients form to request a copy of your medical records sent to you or another legal guardian or personal representative.
Note: Parents and legal guardians, please use this form for your children.
To Request An Individual Patient’s Records for a Third Party
Patients and Third Parties, please complete the Authorization for Release of Information form to request a copy of an individual’s medical records to be released to a third party individual or institution. Note: The individual patient whose records are being requested must sign this authorization.
Submit requests to:
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Health Information Management
Mail stop 90-59-341
One Barnes-Jewish Hospital Plaza
St. Louis, MO 63110-1013
For questions or more information about obtaining medical records, please call 314.454.5934 and select option 1.
How much does it cost?
There is a photocopying fee per page for medical records. There is no charge to send your information to another physician/health care facility for the continuum of care. Other fees and restrictions may apply.
How long are medical records retained?
Barnes-Jewish Hospital maintains records for 30 years. Medical records are stored in hard copy, digital format and on microfilm. There are more than two million medical records at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
How long will it take to get a copy of my record?
The average turn-around time for a request is 30 days, depending on the availability of the medical record. It is our policy to accept walk-in requests but not produce the medical record at the same time due to the availability of the medical record.
Who can look at my record?
Barnes-Jewish medical staff or Health Information staff members may look at a patient's chart (medical record) if they are directly involved in that patient's care or if they need to look at the chart as an approved function of their job. Patient information cannot be released outside of Barnes-Jewish Hospital without a valid patient authorization.