Patients urged to get their records before they're destroyed

LOS ANGELES -- Hundreds of thousands of Southern Californians are in danger of having their medical records destroyed because a company says it is no longer being paid to store them.

Iron Mountain has been housing the records of KPC Medical Management, which closed its clinics in 2000 and left behind 8 million medical documents.

The Boston company has housed the records since August 2001. It was paid to store them for one year and distribute them to patients who requested them, company spokeswoman Melissa Burman said. Because the company has not received more money, officials have been considering whether to destroy the documents, she said.

After state regulators ordered the records to be made available for cancer patients and others currently receiving treatment, insurance companies put up about $2 million for distribution and storage. But the money ran out last summer.

Receives requests

Burman said Iron Mountain has no immediate plans to destroy the documents, but she urged former KPC patients to request their records. She said the company, which charges $21.50 to send the documents, receives 300 to 400 such requests each month.

The state Department of Managed Health Care has not had jurisdiction over the records since a bankruptcy court ordered the records transferred to Iron Mountain from another company, deputy director Joy Higa said.

Gov. Gray Davis has proposed legislation would tighten rules regarding medical records from defunct companies, Higa said.

KPC, which was based in Anaheim, was the largest for-profit medical group in Southern California when it closed in 2000.