Ascension Fax Numbers for Medical Records

Ascension publishes numbers on its release forms, not on its pages

Ascension's own instruction, printed on its authorization form, is that release of information requests must be "sent directly to the corresponding facility or physician office", and that the office should be contacted directly to obtain its fax number. No page on Ascension's site prints a records fax, and most of its market pages now route requests through an online request tool. Any page that hands you one national Ascension fax number is inventing it.

What Ascension does publish is a per-facility line on the authorization forms it serves for some markets, and the table above is read from three of them: the St. Vincent's form for Jacksonville, the Via Christi form for Wichita, and the Ascension Medical Group St. John form for Tulsa. Pick the row for the facility that treated you. Two splits catch people: Via Christi keeps a separate line for radiology images, and the St. John line is for the medical group's clinic records, not the hospital's.

Ascension Wisconsin's records page links a Columbia St. Mary's release form that prints a fax line for each of its Milwaukee, Ozaukee and Sacred Heart Rehabilitation sites, but as a scanned image. We publish only numbers we can read and re-check mechanically, so open that form from Ascension's page and take the line for your site from it directly.

Ascension is also explicit about what it will not accept. On its records-request instructions it states that it cannot provide medical records based on an email or an emailed online form, and that "The form must be either faxed or mailed". So fax is a first-class route here rather than a fallback, which makes getting the right number the whole task.

How to get the number for any other facility, in order of reliability

Work down this list and stop at the first one that gives you a number:

• A letter or form the Ascension facility sent you. The number printed there reaches the department expecting your document.
• The release form for your facility. Ascension's market pages link forms that carry the records department's contact details, and some list the fax number for each site directly on the form.
• The hospital or clinic switchboard. Ask for medical records or health information management, then ask them to read the fax number back digit by digit and say which office it reaches.
• Your Ascension patient portal account, which can also produce a downloadable copy of most hospital records without any form at all.

Ascension's own note is worth repeating: the physician's office should be contacted directly for its fax number. A hospital number will not reach a clinic records desk, and clinic records are where most people's history actually lives.

What to have ready before you send

Whatever number you end up with, the request looks the same:

• Your full name, including any name you used at the time of treatment, plus date of birth
• The Ascension facility or physician office that treated you, and the dates of service
• The specific records you want. Ascension asks you to identify exactly what you need rather than requesting everything, since a full chart is slower and costs more.
• Where the records should go, with the recipient's address or fax number
• Your signature, and proof of authority if you are a parent, guardian, or personal representative
• A copy of your photo ID

A signed release plus an ID copy is two to four pages, which sends free on any FaxTerra account. Ascension charges for a full copy of a record, and states there is no charge for a single copy of any one portion of it, so narrowing the request has a direct cost effect. Via Christi's form asks for patience on the other end: "Please allow 12 business days for processing."

How to fax Ascension without a fax machine

Create a free FaxTerra account with an email address, upload the signed release as a PDF or as photos taken with your phone, enter the number from the row above or the one the facility gave you, and send. Delivery confirmation arrives by email, which matters more than usual here because the destination is a local office rather than a central queue you can call for status.

See how to send a fax for accepted files and page limits, faxing medical records for the wider process of gathering your history, and the Kaiser Permanente guide for a system that does publish regional numbers, which is what Ascension's routing would look like if it were written down.