Insurance & Claims
Can the insurance company access my medical records?
Short answer
Only what you authorize, or what a court orders. No insurer can pull your medical history on its own — it needs a signed HIPAA authorization, and the blanket authorization adjusters send often covers far more than the crash: years of history, mental health, substance treatment, employment and sometimes billing records. You can limit an authorization to the relevant providers and time period, or provide the records yourself instead. Your own UM or medical payments carrier, however, has contractual cooperation rights that are broader than a third-party adjuster's.
What Georgia law says
Access to medical information is governed primarily by federal law — the HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 C.F.R. Part 164) allows disclosure to a third party only with a valid, specific written authorization, and Georgia law adds protections for certain records, including mental health records under O.C.G.A. § 24-12-1 and § 37-3-166 and separate federal protection for substance use disorder records under 42 C.F.R. Part 2. Once suit is filed, medical information relevant to the claimed injuries becomes discoverable under Georgia's civil discovery rules, and by claiming injury you place your relevant medical condition at issue. Your own insurer's access is different again: UM and medical payments coverage are contracts, and most policies require reasonable cooperation, which can include records, an examination under oath or an independent medical examination.
What this means after an accident
The distinction that matters: a liability adjuster for the other driver is a stranger to you and gets only what you hand over. Your own carrier has a contract with you. Signing an unlimited authorization for either usually gives away more than the claim requires.
How this actually works
The usual sequence: within days of the claim, the adjuster sends a general medical authorization and asks you to sign and return it. What follows if you sign broadly is a records sweep looking for prior injuries, degenerative findings, prior claims, and anything usable to attribute your symptoms to something else. The alternative most claimants use is to have their own side collect the records and bills from the treating providers and produce a complete, organized set for the crash-related care — which usually moves faster and keeps the file focused. Where a prior condition genuinely overlaps, limited prior records are often produced deliberately to show the change caused by the crash. After suit is filed, the scope broadens through discovery, and disputes about relevance are resolved by the court.
What you should do
- 01Do not sign an open-ended medical authorization; read the scope, dates and provider list.
- 02Offer to provide the crash-related records and bills yourself instead of signing a global release.
- 03If an authorization is needed, limit it to the treating providers and a defined time period.
- 04Check whether the request comes from your own carrier — cooperation duties are broader there.
- 05Keep your own copy of everything produced, so you know what the adjuster has.
Important exceptions
Exceptions: your own UM or med-pay policy may require broader disclosure as a condition of coverage, some claims (workers' compensation, Medicare or Medicaid involvement, ERISA plan reimbursement) trigger additional record-sharing obligations, and a court can compel records once litigation begins. Whether a particular authorization is too broad, and what may be withheld, depends on the records at issue and the posture of the claim.
When an attorney may help
An attorney may help when you have been sent a blanket authorization, when prior treatment overlaps with your current injuries, or when a carrier is conditioning payment on unlimited access to your history.
Attorney
Who handles this type of case at MCA
Licensed in Georgia and mapped to this case type in the MCA attorney bench. Attorney availability is not a statement that this page has been legally reviewed.
MCA Answers
What you may need to know next
Straight answers built around Georgia law, authoritative sources and practical guidance.
- Should I give a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster?You are generally not required to give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurance company, and in MCA's experience doing so early — before the full extent of your injuries is known — more often hurts a claim than helps it.
- Who pays my medical bills after a Georgia car accident?Georgia has no no-fault coverage, so your bills are generally paid as you go by medical payments coverage, health insurance, or a provider treating on a lien — and the at-fault driver's insurer typically reimburses those costs at the end, as part of a single settlement.
Keep reading
Related from our legal library
How these crashes happen
- Drunk Driving CrashA crash caused by an impaired driver opens two additional avenues: punitive damages, and potential dram shop liability against the bar or restaurant that over-served a noticeably intoxicated driver or served a minor.
- Hit-and-RunWhen the at-fault driver flees, the case usually becomes an uninsured motorist claim against your own policy. Georgia requires prompt reporting and cooperation, and the UM carrier stands in the shoes of the fleeing driver, meaning it will litigate liability just as hard.
- Intersection CollisionIntersection crashes generate the hardest liability fights because both drivers usually claim a green light. These cases are won with signal timing data, independent witnesses and physical damage geometry.
- Lane Change & SideswipeSideswipe crashes on I-285, GA-400 and the Downtown Connector generate disputed fault because both drivers claim the other drifted. Paint transfer and damage height frequently resolve it.
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1
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2
We review the accident
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3
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