MD Anderson Fax Number for Medical Records

One office for the whole cancer center

MD Anderson is unusual among large academic centers in running a single Release of Information office rather than a records department per building or per service line. Patients, caregivers, and physicians all use the same authorization form, and MD Anderson’s instruction on the form is that requests may be sent by fax to (855) 884-3253, by email, or by mail.

That means one number covers the Texas Medical Center campus, the Mays Clinic, and the Houston-area locations. It also means a request does not need to name a department, only the records and the dates you want.

The Release of Information office keeps walk-up windows in the Main Building and in Mays Clinic during business hours, and MD Anderson charges a fee for paper copies in some cases, published in its own fee schedule.

What MD Anderson patients send

The authorization form is the document, and it is more detailed than most because cancer records span more services:

• The entire legal medical record, or an abstract covering the pertinent treatment information
• Pathology reports and slides, imaging studies, and treatment summaries, each selectable on the form
• A survivorship or treatment summary going to a new oncologist or a primary care physician
• Records going out to a second-opinion center, which the form handles by naming the receiving organization with its address and fax number
• A revocation of an authorization you signed earlier, which goes to the Privacy Officer at (713) 563-4324 rather than to Release of Information

The form also asks how you want the records delivered: fax, email, mail, patient pickup, or MyChart, in paper or electronic format. Fill that in, because a request without it comes back to you.

Verify the number before you send

An authorization identifies you by name, date of birth, and MD Anderson patient number, and names the records being released. Confirm the destination first:

• Download the authorization form from mdanderson.org and read the fax number printed at the top of the form you actually downloaded. It is on the form itself.
• Records already released to your MyChart account need no form at all, and MD Anderson says so on the form.
• A revocation and a new request go to two different offices. Sending a revocation to Release of Information delays it.
• Skip fax numbers from third-party form sites. Several republish an old copy of the MD Anderson form.

How to fax MD Anderson without a fax machine

Create a free FaxTerra account with an email address, upload the signed authorization as a PDF or as photos taken with your phone, enter the MD Anderson fax number, and send. Delivery confirmation arrives by email, which is worth keeping when records are due at a second-opinion appointment.

A completed authorization is two or three pages and sends free within your monthly free pages. Longer packets are covered by a one-time credit pack from about 10¢ a page. See how to send a fax for accepted files and page limits, faxing medical records for the wider process, and the Mayo Clinic guide for the other large referral center that publishes one national Release of Information line.