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August 19, 2005

AG Corbett announces update in Main Medical case; patient records available from Pittsburgh - based Business Records Management

PITTSBURGH - Attorney General Tom Corbett today announced that Commonwealth Court has approved Pittsburgh - based Business Records Management Inc. (BRM) to be the repository of records for Main Medical, an out-of-business diagnostic imaging company, which had six offices in Allegheny and Westmorland counties.

Corbett said Main Medical shut down in April of this year without giving consumers any prior notification of how to get their records.  The company performed mammograms, x-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans, echocardiograms and other specialized tests.

In May, Corbett filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court against Main Medicals' owners claiming that they violated state law by failing to notify clients that all of its records storage facilities were closing and also by failing to provide an adequate method to release the personal medical records of tens of thousands of patients prior to its closing. 

In May, Corbett also asked the Court to order Main Medical to open five of its offices so that patients could obtain their records until a records management company was retained by the Court for permanent storage of the records.

Corbett said the Court approved Business Records Management as the repository of the more than 100,000 records.  Corbett said under state and federal law patients have a right to obtain copies of their medical records, or in some cases take possession of the original records. 

Corbett said requests for records must be submitted to BRM in writing using the release form, which can be downloaded from the company's web site at www.businessrecords.com or by clicking a link on the Attorney General's web site, which is www.attorneygeneral.gov.