If a patient requests their medical records to be copied onto a personal flash drive, must the facility comply according to HIPAA?

Under HIPAA regulations, while patients do have the right to access their medical records, the specifics of how they receive this information can be more nuanced. A healthcare facility is required to provide patients with access to their medical records, but they are not obligated to comply with every method of access that a patient might request.

When it comes to providing copies of medical records, facilities must ensure that they adhere to security and privacy concerns. If a patient requests their records to be saved onto a personal flash drive, the facility may refuse this request due to potential risks of unencrypted data being transferred or mishandled outside of the secure environment of the healthcare organization.

Instead, facilities typically provide records in secure formats—such as paper copies or electronic records sent through secure methods—while ensuring that patient information is protected according to HIPAA guidelines. Therefore, it is appropriate for the facility to decline the request for copying records directly onto a personal flash drive, as this could pose security risks that are not aligned with HIPAA requirements.