Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The bottom line is: if your doctor isn't giving you an electronic copy of your record — and in 2014, in the format of your choice — they're breaking the law." This is demonstrably false. Meaningful use is not at this time a mandate. It is an incentive program. The incentive will likely turn from a carrot to a stick in the future, but as of 2014 there is no mandate on US physicians to comply with meaningful use stage…
You're right, I mistyped that. Meaningful Use is an incentive. The right to getting an electronic copy of your record is part of HIPAA. So the overall point of what I wrote is still true — you have a legal right to your health record in the electronic format of your choosing: > (ii) Notwithstanding paragraph (c)(2)(i) of this section, if the protected health information that is the subject of a request for access is…
>if not, in a readable hard copy form or such other form and format as agreed to by the covered entity and the individual.
If the records are only hard copy, then there is no requirement to convert them into an electronic format just to provide them to an individual. I know this is the case with my primary care physician and I think it may be the case with other smaller practices. Many of these may be small practices run by older doctors, so they may simply retire. If you've been practicing since say 1970 or so and haven't converted everything to electronic format by now, why bother?