A
AngryFish
Guest
What is the name of your state? Illinois
My sons switched doctors offices due to their pediatrician starting her own practice. So we requested for a copy of their medical records to be sent to us. However, according to the office manager of the former doctor's office, they have a $20 medical records copying fee per child.
My sons are 9-months old and 27 months old; they probably have no more than 4 pages of medical records in total. I thought it was a bit excessive to charge a total of $40 for probably no more than 4 pages of records.
I did some initial research, and came upon the following.
http://www.isms.org/news/express/pub_articles/0801_b.html
- Updated for 2003, hospitals and physicians will be limited to a $20.48 handling charge plus 77 cents per page for the first 25 pages, 51 cents for pages 26 - 50 and 26 cents for each page in excess of 50 (see table).
http://www.ihatoday.org/public/legal/hipaamedrec.htm
- However, the HIPAA Privacy Rule prohibits the provider (and the provider’s copy service) from charging a handling fee to patients or their personal representatives as defined in the HIPAA rule.
So, can the previous doctor's office charge a flat fee of $20 per child which "they've been charging for years" according to the office manager? Or are they limited to $0.77 per page and actual shipping costs? Thanks.
My sons switched doctors offices due to their pediatrician starting her own practice. So we requested for a copy of their medical records to be sent to us. However, according to the office manager of the former doctor's office, they have a $20 medical records copying fee per child.
My sons are 9-months old and 27 months old; they probably have no more than 4 pages of medical records in total. I thought it was a bit excessive to charge a total of $40 for probably no more than 4 pages of records.
I did some initial research, and came upon the following.
http://www.isms.org/news/express/pub_articles/0801_b.html
- Updated for 2003, hospitals and physicians will be limited to a $20.48 handling charge plus 77 cents per page for the first 25 pages, 51 cents for pages 26 - 50 and 26 cents for each page in excess of 50 (see table).
http://www.ihatoday.org/public/legal/hipaamedrec.htm
- However, the HIPAA Privacy Rule prohibits the provider (and the provider’s copy service) from charging a handling fee to patients or their personal representatives as defined in the HIPAA rule.
So, can the previous doctor's office charge a flat fee of $20 per child which "they've been charging for years" according to the office manager? Or are they limited to $0.77 per page and actual shipping costs? Thanks.
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