In 2009, Bleckley Memorial Hospital decided to forego the previously utilized standard of having our staff physicians make rounds on inpatients and adopt a hospitalist program. This program provides for physician to be on the floors of our facility at all times and allows for more accessible care for all Bleckley Memorial Hospital patients.
What is a hospitalist? According to “The Society of Hospital Medicine”, hospitalists are defined as physicians whose primary professional focus is the general medical care of hospitalized patients. Their activities include patient care, teaching, research, and leadership related to Hospital Medicine.
Hospitalist services at Bleckley Memorial Hospital are provided through Southland MD. Southland MD Hospitalist physicians are specialists in inpatient medicine who care only for our hospitalized patients.
These physicians have no other responsibilities outside the hospital, which enables them to focus exclusively on the care of the acutely ill, hospitalized patients. Southland MD forms partnerships with primary care physicians to better treat the medical needs and improve both inpatient and outpatient experience.
Though the primary care physician may or may not see the patient along with the Hospitalist while in hospital, they will work closely with our Hospitalist physician to gather important medical history to provide the best care possible. Our Hospitalist physicians ensure a smooth transition for the patient from the hospital back to their Primary physician by providing a complete dictated summary of hospitalization, as well as through verbal communication.
The patient medical record is a legal record of the patient's care and treatment. The contents of the patient medical record is confidential and the information it contains can only be released by the patient's written authorization. Third party requests for patient medical records must also be made in writing.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of your medical record(s), please print and complete the Authorization for Disclosure of Protected Health Information form. Upon completion, you may fax, mail, or personally deliver to the Medical Record Department at Bleckley Memorial Hospital. You may also complete this form in person at the hospital.
In order to verify your identification and validate your authorization, we require that you provide a valid photo I.D. or include a legible copy of a valid photo I.D. (e.g., driver's license, military I.D., or state issued I.D.), and a telephone number.
Copies of patient medical records are available to patients for follow-up care at no charge. For all other medical record requests, a fee may be charged to cover the cost of copying the file in accordance with the Official Code of Georgia O.C.G.A. 31-33-3.
Please allow 3-5 business days for us to process a request for a complete medical record.
