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Service

Medical record retrieval

Tavrn is a medical record retrieval service for law firms, care providers and health-tech teams. Send one signed patient authorization and Tavrn requests medical records, billing records and radiology images from any US provider, working every network, API, MRO and portal together, plus fax, mail, email and phone for the providers outside them, and requests accident reports from the reporting agency and insurance coverage from every carrier. The complete record comes back where you work: platform, integration or API.

Book a demoSee how it works : medical record retrieval in four steps

What the service includes

Authorization-based requests

A signed HIPAA authorization and what you know about the provider: name, location and dates of service. One authorization covers every US provider the patient has seen.

Every provider route

Health-data networks, release-of-information vendors (Datavant/Ciox, MRO, Verisma, Sharecare) on their own portals and payment rails, provider portals, and fax, mail, email or phone for the providers outside them.

Follow-up with custodians

Receipt is confirmed with the records department, then every open request is followed up every 48 hours by fax, portal and phone. A provider that stalls is escalated to Tavrn’s retrieval team, who work the request by hand.

Status on every request

Every contact is logged with date, channel and outcome, so the state of each request is on the record rather than in an inbox. Integrations and the API report each status change.

Completeness check

Every delivery is checked against the request: pages, date range and record types. Missing pages go back to the provider; a provider with nothing on file returns a documented no-records statement.

Delivery where you work

Searchable (OCR), with a cover page, organised by provider and date of service, into Litify, SmartAdvocate, Clio, Smokeball, SharePoint or Dropbox, on the Tavrn platform, or through the API.

Record types

What can be retrieved

Medical records, billing records and radiology images from any US provider, accident reports from the reporting agency and insurance coverage from every carrier, each requested the way that custodian requires.

  • Full charts and treatment records
  • Itemized bills and billing records
  • Imaging and films, with mailed discs ingested
  • Pharmacy records
  • Pathology slides
  • Accident reports
  • Insurance coverage
  • Certified copies and custodian affidavits, notarized where the court needs it

Who it is for

One retrieval service, three kinds of team

From solo practices to national organizations, coast to coast. Each audience has its own page with the workflow, integrations and proof for that team.

  • Law firms

    Personal injury, mass tort, medical malpractice and workers’ comp: treatment records and itemized bills from every provider on the matter, followed up until they arrive and filed into Litify, SmartAdvocate, Clio or Smokeball.

    Medical record retrieval for law firms

  • Hospitals and clinics

    Outside notes, images and pathology slides from each provider a patient has seen, on one HIPAA authorization, filed to the chart by HIM.

    Retrieval for hospitals and clinics

  • Health tech and AI agents

    Medical record retrieval as an API: the patient signs once, each provider is requested, and a webhook fires on every status change. Agents read tavrn.ai/agents.md.

    Retrieval API for health techFor AI agents

How it works

From authorization to complete record

  1. 01

    Send the authorization

    A signed patient authorization plus the provider’s name, location and dates of service, entered on the platform, from your case management system, or by API.

  2. 02

    Tavrn requests every provider

    Each request goes to the provider the same day, the way that custodian actually responds: network, release-of-information vendor, portal, fax, mail, email or phone.

  3. 03

    Followed up until it arrives

    Receipt is confirmed, then every open request is followed up every 48 hours, including by phone during the provider’s business hours. A stalled request goes to Tavrn’s retrieval team.

  4. 04

    Checked and delivered

    Pages, date range and record types are checked against the request, then the record is delivered searchable, with a cover page, into your platform, system or API.

Coverage

Any US provider, from one authorization

100,000+

provider requests processed through Tavrn

500+

organizations, from solo practices to national organizations

425,000

provider organizations in the directory, all 50 states and DC

Security

Controls for sensitive medical records

Protected health information, handled under HIPAA and audited for SOC 2.

Security details

After retrieval

The same records, already working

Records retrieved through Tavrn can be used with your existing tools, or with Tavrn’s own chronologies and demands: a cited medical chronology and a demand drafted on your firm’s template, from the records already on the case.

Chronologies and demands for law firms

FAQ

Medical record retrieval, answered

What is medical record retrieval?
Medical record retrieval is obtaining a patient’s records from the providers who hold them: hospitals, clinics, imaging centers, pharmacies and the release-of-information vendors that answer for them. It starts with a legal basis for the request, usually the patient’s signed HIPAA authorization, and ends when the custodian releases the complete record. For a law firm that means the treatment records and itemized bills behind a claim; for a provider or health-tech company, the outside records a patient’s care or product depends on.
What does a medical record retrieval company do?
A record retrieval company sends each request to the right custodian, pays the provider’s invoice, follows up until the records arrive, checks the delivery against what was requested and delivers it in a usable form. Tavrn does this from one authorization for any US provider: requests go to the provider the same day, every open request is followed up every 48 hours, and the records arrive searchable and organised by provider and date of service, on the platform, in your case management system or by API.
How do law firms request medical records?
A law firm requests records with the client’s signed HIPAA authorization, sent to each provider’s records custodian with the patient’s identifiers and the dates of service. Most providers answer by fax, portal or mail, and large health systems route requests through a release-of-information vendor. With Tavrn the firm sends one authorization from the platform or its case management system, and Tavrn handles every provider on the matter, including certified copies and custodian affidavits where the court needs them.
What is the difference between a HIPAA authorization and a subpoena for medical records?
A HIPAA authorization is the patient’s written permission, under 45 CFR 164.508, for a provider to release records to a named recipient, and the provider can honor it directly. A subpoena is a court or attorney demand for records without the patient’s consent; HIPAA lets a provider comply only with a court order, or with written assurance that the patient was notified or that a qualified protective order is in place (45 CFR 164.512(e)). Tavrn works from the patient’s authorization, which one signature extends to every US provider the patient has seen.
What happens when a provider uses a release-of-information vendor like MRO or Datavant?
Many hospitals and health systems outsource record release to a vendor such as Datavant/Ciox, MRO, Verisma or Sharecare, which runs its own request portal, invoicing and delivery. The request needs the same authorization, but it has to be filed, paid and tracked on that vendor’s rails rather than with the provider directly. Tavrn handles these clearinghouses on their own portals and payment rails as part of the request, so the records come back the same way as from any other provider.
Who is the custodian of medical records?
The custodian of records is the person or department a provider designates to hold its records and answer requests: the health information management (HIM) department at a hospital, the office manager at a small practice, or an outsourced release-of-information vendor. The custodian confirms the record is complete and, when a court needs it, signs the affidavit that authenticates it. Tavrn sends each request to the custodian the way that provider actually responds, and requests certified copies and custodian affidavits with the record.
How long does medical record retrieval take?
The provider sets the pace. Under HIPAA’s access rule a provider has 30 days to answer a patient’s request for their own records, with one 30-day extension (45 CFR 164.524); requests under an authorization have no federal deadline, and state law sets its own rules. Tavrn sends every request the same day, confirms receipt and follows up every 48 hours until the records arrive, and a deposition or trial date on the case moves its requests to the front of the queue.
Which records can be retrieved?
Medical records, billing records and radiology images from any US provider: full charts, itemized bills, imaging and films including mailed discs, pharmacy records, pathology slides, and certified copies with custodian affidavits. Accident reports come from the reporting agency and insurance coverage from every carrier. Continued care is covered by re-requesting the same provider for new dates of service, with duplicates detected.

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See a request go out and the records come back

Trusted by 500+ organizations, from solo practices to national organizations, coast to coast.

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