We created a simple rubric for measuring hospitals' openness and responsiveness. PatientBank has been using this data internally for months to improve operations, and we recently decided to open it up to the public. The rubric includes 7 factors (listed below) and results in a single score, ranging from 0 to 100.
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Returned requests
The total number of requests the hospital has returned to PatientBank. If all else is equal, hospitals who have returned more requests have a higher score.
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Successful requests
The percentage of returned requests that are returned successfully (i.e. the hospital returns medical records within the HIPAA limit of 30 days).
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Rejected requests
The percentage of returned requests that are rejected by the hospital. A high rejection rate usually implies data blocking.
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Invoiced requests
The percentage of returned requests that require payment. Hospitals are encouraged to give patients access to their medical records for free.
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Electronic requests
The percentage of successful requests that are returned electronically. PatientBank gives hospitals access to an electronic portal to track requests and respond to them.
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Mailed requests
The percentage of successful requests that are returned in the mail. While hospitals are asked to return records electronically, some only send records in the mail.
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Turnaround time
The median number of days between the date requests are sent and when they are returned. HIPAA gives hospitals 30 days to respond to requests.
What to do now
Explore the scores or try requesting your own medical records with PatientBank!
