Patients of a former St. Stephen-based doctor, who died earlier this year, are being asked to pay for their medical files.
Originally, the estate of Dr. S.K. Bugwandin sent letters to individuals requesting they pay $95 plus tax to obtain the records from DOCUdavit left by Bugwandin. This was confirmed in a letter and forms were provided to The Courier.
David Whittingham was one of those patients.
He has already been through losing a doctor to retirement once before and at that time paid $25 for his medical records.
“At that moment we did not have another doctor to go to,” he said.
Whittingham said two new doctors came and in subsequent years left their respective practices, leaving only Bugwandin, who absorbed the patients of at least one of the doctors.
“There was no medical records transfer fee charged (to) patients at that time. The transfer was seamless,” he said.
Whittingham said he was surprised by the $95 fee set out by a private company for the transfer of medical records, adding for two people that is $190.
“I feel that we and most of Dr. Bugwandin’s patients are being punched in the stomach twice,” he said. “Firstly, losing our doctor and then being charged a fee because we do not have another doctor/nurse practitioner to be automatically transferred to.”
He would have liked to have seen the medical records held in trust by the Department of Health until the patients who are without a primary care provider could be matched with a new one, with no charge to the patients.
The Courier has reached out to DOCUdavit who said in an email it is “always willing to accommodate patient requests fpr a reduced fee for numerous reasons.”
“They need to contact us, and we would be pleased to accommodate them,” the company said.
Wittingham did reach out to Progressive Conservative MLA Kathy Bockus, who also questioned Health Minister Dr. John Dornan in the legislative assembly about subsidies to cover the cost.
In a response, Bockus’s staff were able to confirm there would be no subsidies available, but that the company hired by Bugwandin’s estate would reduce the price to $25 in cases involving financial hardship.
The Department of Health said in a statement to The Courier that it “is not involved in the management of medical records held by physicians, nor is it in the negotiation and signature of contracts with third-party companies.”
“When fee-for-service physicians leave practice, they are expected to ensure adequate retention, storage, and access to medical records,” said DOH spokesperson Tara Chislett. “For salaried physicians, that function is provided by the Health Records department in the regional health authorities. Guidelines on record management are provided to physicians by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick.”
She said when a physician stops practicing, they may subcontract to a third-party to process the transfer of medical records. It directed The Courier to the College of Physicians and Surgeons for further questions about the management of health records.
The Courier also reached out to Horizon Health Network about patient records and the associated, but the regional health authority did not respond to questions.
DOH confirmed the cost to retrieve medical records is not covered by Medicare. All medical containing personal health information is legislated under the Personal Health Information Privacy and Access Act.
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