I am fairly new at billing. I bill for surgical assistants and recently on some of the new surgeon's cases, their billing managers will not send me the operative reports needed to appeal the claims that are denied. How can I obtain them? Most of the physician's personal say I have to obtain them thru the hospital. When I request from the hospital, they say I have to obtain them through the physician's office. What do I need to do to obtain these? The insurance companies almost always requires the operative report for the appeal.The physician's offices that I have been working with in the past have faxed the HCFA and the operative report with no problem after I signed a HIPAA form for them. I have a HIPAA compliant fax and email which are both encrypted and only I can open the files. Any help would be appreciated.