How to get your medical records from Novant Health

Option 1: MyChart (fastest, free)

In Novant Health MyChart, the path is Menu, then My Record. Document Center, Visits, and Test Results hold what the portal can give you directly, at no cost. The portal shows a subset of your chart; the complete file, what HIPAA calls the designated record set, comes through the formal request below.

Option 2: The authorization forms

Novant uses two forms, and picking the right one saves a round trip:

• Authorization to Disclose Protected Health or Billing Information (also in Spanish) sends records to a third party. Unusually, this one form covers medical and billing records together; most systems split them.
• Patient Request for Access to PHI gets copies to you.

Completed forms go to the release-of-information desk:

• Email: ROIenterprise@novanthealth.org
• Fax: 704-316-9556
• Mail: Novant Health Release of Information, P.O. Box 7688, Charlotte, NC 28241

Option 3: Phone / in person

The release-of-information desk answers at 844-763-9163. In person, a hospital medical-records office can print up to two visit abstracts on the spot while you wait.

Fees

Novant publishes an actual fee schedule, which few systems do. MyChart is free, and provider-to-provider transfers are free. Patient copies: $0.57 per page on paper, or a flat $6.50 for digital delivery, plus a labor charge of $4.02 under 200 pages or $8.38 over, plus supplies and postage from $3.63 to $26.58. Third-party requests follow North Carolina's tiers, $0.75/$0.50/$0.25 per page plus a $20 search fee.

The state cap is N.C.G.S. 90-411: 75 cents per page for the first 25 pages, 50 cents through page 100, 25 cents past that, with a minimum fee of up to $10. Federally, HIPAA permits only a reasonable, cost-based fee for patient copies, and treats a flat $6.50 as an acceptable charge for electronic ones.

How long it takes

Novant states up to 30 days to respond. In practice, copies typically arrive 1 to 2 business days after you pay the invoice, so the invoice is the real clock.

The federal backstop is the HIPAA right of access, 45 CFR 164.524: action within 30 days, one 30-day extension with written notice. If day 31 passes with silence, file a complaint with the HHS Office for Civil Rights.

Getting a family member's records

For copies of a minor's or an incapacitated adult's records, Novant requires a signed authorization, your photo ID, and legal documentation. One requirement worth knowing before you start: a healthcare power of attorney is not enough on its own. Novant also asks for a letter from the primary care provider confirming the patient cannot make decisions.

MyChart proxy access follows age bands:

• Children 12 and under have no accounts of their own; parents see them through parent proxy.
• Teens 12 to 17: limited proxy. Notes, the problem list, and sensitive results are withheld from the parent's view.
• Proxy access is revoked automatically at 18.
• Adult to adult: each adult signs a request, and both need their own accounts.

Proxy access has different rules and names at every organization. The full guide: MyChart proxy access for a family member.

Quirks: imaging and the South Carolina hospitals

• MyChart image download only covers imaging from 2021 onward. Older studies need a release-of-information request and arrive on CD; the third-party schedule prices this at $32.50 per study.
• The South Carolina coastal hospitals (Coastal Carolina, East Cooper, Hilton Head) are handled by Datavant, not Novant's own desk: ROINovantHealthSC@datavant.com, 855-215-4683. The invoice will come from Datavant, not Novant Health.
• Third-party requesters track their requests on a separate portal with Release IDs; patients do not need it.

FAQ