LP3: Documentation of numerous attempts and a significant amount of time being spent to access medical records from the local hospital, which delayed a decision about maltreatment. 
It took CP worker multiple contacts and a lot of persistence to receive the medical record needed.  Investigations writes request via County Letterhead, included in the context of the Letter is the statute which allows them access to medical records during an open CP investigation. The amount of time that was spent trying to access the records was somewhat typical, but it does not support the work CP is trying to achieve, especially for this particular case, the time spent trying to obtain the medical records created a barrier, and caused delay in CP investigator being able to make a maltreatment determination. A significant amount of time was spent waiting on getting the information needed. The hospital's medical records department follows a strict procedure of releasing only exact date and clinic location where care received for an individual. The information requested is included on County Letterhead, with the Statute allowing investigations access to the child's records. A release of information is not needed, But if specific date or location is not known where child received medical care, the information will not be included just by providing a child's name. It is not possible to request all records without including dates, so if there was a discrepancy in exact date, or an exact location where care was received, this becomes problematic. Ultimately, the decision to find maltreatment was delayed due to amount of time it took to obtain access to the specific medical records needed to inform preponderance of evidence.