I wonder how many different companies do MRI's in Alaska? It could very well be that the place where you got your previous MRI's and the place you were getting your current one were both owned by the same company. And that company would have records of all the procedures they did for you. In much the same way I live in Colorado, and get my healthcare here using Kaiser insurance, but if I walked into a Kaiser facility in Hawaii they could access all my medical records from Colorado. Also, the same way the Colonoscopy department within Kaiser can see any records I have from the Optometry department within Kaiser, even though the two departments don't have a whole lot to do with each other. Same company, different facilities, different states, different departments - but they all have access the same patient records. It doesn't even have to be the same company necessarily. Where I am, I see my doctors in the Kaiser building. Right next door is a hospital - Good Samaritan - that does surgeries for Kaiser. And Kaiser admits patients there if they require hospitalization. The hospital can see Kaiser records and Kaiser can see hospital records for a patient that is being treated by both companies.I now laugh every time someone in the medical community say's, don't worry it is all confidential.
There are major ramifications for medical providers to breach HIPAA laws. It would not pay for them to breach HIPAA (what would they gain?), but it sure could hurt them. It would take a major ******* employee to disclose medical records inappropriately. No doubt they would be fired on the spot for doing so. What possible benefit would come to someone who told the world that Sourdough had an MRI on this date at this facility for this medical condition? The only possible people I can think of who might care about this are you and an insurance company that is considering insuring you. And evidently you don't care all that much either - not remembering the date, the facility or the reason why it was done (FWIW - I wouldn't remember those details for a procedure I had myself - well, maybe the reason it was done - because I don't care either). But trying to hide that information from an insurance company would put you in the fast lane for immediate policy cancellation, or refusal to pay a claim.