Middle, Tenn.-based Comprehensive Pain Specialists still hasn't released patients' medical records after closing dozens of clinics July 31, The Tennessean reports.
Here's what you should know:
1. The Tennessean interviewed five former CPS patients who have reportedly been unable to obtain their medical records since CPS shut down its clinics. CPS treated more than 48,000 people a month, in multiple states.
2. Former patients were told their record requests were automatically forwarded to the company Data File, which CPS hired earlier this year to release the documents after the clinics closed.
3. In August, Data File reportedly told an ex-patient it was no longer working with CPS. Data File told the patient to call CPS' legal department, which no longer exists.
4. Former patient Lisa Duvall has been unable to retrieve her records from CPS, and she's running out of opioids prescribed to treat her fibromyalgia and severe arthritis. Former patient Gina Brown hasn't obtained her records, either, despite filing paperwork to request them before the local clinic closed. Her pain medication runs out at the end of September.
5. Without their medical records, it's difficult for patients to get new pain medication prescriptions. Further complicating matters, Tennessee has increased scrutiny on opioid prescriptions in the midst of the nationwide opioid crisis.
6. CPS replaced its website with a portal allowing former patients to request medical records Sept. 13. The requests are supposed to be provided within a week after patients pay a $25 processing fee.
7. Former CPS CEO John Davis is being prosecuted for alleged healthcare fraud. CPS' financial operations are being investigated separately.