Medical Records Request

Making a Request for records from the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS)

• – You may request records by U.S. Mail, fax, e-mail, in person, or over the phone. FOIA does not require that your request be in writing. From a practical perspective, it may be helpful to both you and the person receiving your request to put your request in writing to create a record of your request and also give us a clear statement of your request.
• – Your request must identify the records you are seeking with “reasonable specificity.” This is a common-sense standard. It does not refer to or limit the volume or number of records that you are requesting; instead, it requires that you be specific enough so that we can identify and locate the records that you are seeking.

– Your rquest must ask for records or documents. FOIA gives you a right to inspect or copy records; it does not apply to a situation where you are asking general questions about the work of the Facility.

– You may choose to receive electronic records in any format used by the Facility in the regular course of business.

– Please cooperate with any efforts to clarify the type of records that you are seeking, or to attempt to reach a reasonable agreement about a response to a large request. Making a FOIA request is not an adversarial process, but we may need to discuss your request wih you to ensure that we understand what records you are seeking.

Responsibilities in Responding to Your Request

• – The Facility must respond to your request within five working days of receiving it. “Day One” is considered the day after your request is received. The five-day period does not include weekends or holidays.
• – If it is practically impossible for the Facility to respond to your request within the five-day period, we must state this in writing, explaining the conditions that make the response impossible. This will allow us seven additional working days to respond to your request, giving us a total of 12 working days to respond to your request.

DBHDS AUTHORIZATION FOR USE/DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION – pdf

Please contact Kenneth Pritchett at Kenneth.Pritchett@dbhds.virginia.gov or you can call 1-804-524-7319 or Fax at 804-524-7323

Or you can mail at:
Central State Hospital
ATTN: H.I.M Department
P.O. Box 4030
Petersburg, VA 23803