How to request your medical records in Virginia
You have a federal right to a copy of your own medical records, in Virginia and everywhere else. Below is how that right works, what Virginia adds on top of it, and a free letter you can fill out and send.
Your federal right (applies in every state)
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR 164.524), you can get a copy of your own medical records without giving a reason. A provider must act on your request within 30 days, can take one 30-day extension only with written notice, and can charge only a reasonable, cost-based fee for copying and postage.
What Virginia adds
- Response time
- Within 30 days of the request (furnish, explain, redirect, or deny).
- Copy fees
- When you request a copy of your own health record, the provider may charge only a reasonable cost-based fee — supplies and labor of copying, postage if mailed, and preparation of any summary you agree to.
- Worth knowing
- A provider may withhold records if your treating clinician has written that release would likely endanger your or another person's safety.
- The law
- Va. Code § 32.1-127.1:03 (health records privacy)
When Virginia law and the federal HIPAA rule differ, the one that gives you more access — faster turnaround, lower fee — is the one that applies. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm specifics with your provider's records office.
Your Virginia records-request letter
Requesting records in Virginia — common questions
- How do I request my medical records in Virginia?
- Under your federal right of access (HIPAA, 45 CFR § 164.524), you can get a copy of your own records from any provider in Virginia. Send a written request — the free letter on this page works — to the provider's Health Information Management or Release of Information office, or use their patient portal if they have one.
- How long does a provider in Virginia have to send my records?
- Within 30 days of the request (furnish, explain, redirect, or deny). Either way, HIPAA's right of access (45 CFR § 164.524) requires them to act within 30 days, with one possible 30-day extension on written notice.
- How much can a provider in Virginia charge for copies of my records?
- When you request a copy of your own health record, the provider may charge only a reasonable cost-based fee — supplies and labor of copying, postage if mailed, and preparation of any summary you agree to. HIPAA separately caps any fee at a reasonable, cost-based charge for the labor of copying and the postage — whichever protects you more applies.
- Is this records-request letter free?
- Yes. The generator builds a HIPAA records-request letter you can download and print for free. Nothing you type is saved or sent to anyone but you.
What we will never do with your records
This generator runs without an account, and KeptWell itself makes the same promises to every family, regardless of plan or price.
- We won't sell your data.
- Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to insurers, not to pharma, not to anyone, in any form, ever.
- We won't train AI models on your records.
- Anthropic (whose Claude model powers KeptWell) is contractually prohibited from training on anything we send them, under a signed Business Associate Agreement.
- We won't lock you in.
- You can export everything in your circle as a ZIP at any time. Cancellation is one click.
Once your Virginia records arrive, give them a home.
They usually come back as a stack of PDFs or a disc. Upload them to KeptWell and it reads each one, organizes everything by type and date, and lets your whole family ask questions about it. The medical record organizer that does the organizing. Free today.
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More on the product: how it works, the medical record organizer, pricing, and what we do with your data.