Are there regulations on whether physicians can charge for medical records?

[Jadis]

The physician I was seeing left the practice he was with and moved to another one. I want to continue seeing this physician and don’t want to have to go through all of my medical history with him at his new office, so I thought it would be prudent to have my medical record at the old office transferred to the new one.

I understand that if you want copies of your medical records for your own use, there can be copying fees, but in this case, all I want is for someone to fax the records over to the new office. When I dropped in to sign the release form, the receptionist tried to tell me that it was going to be something insane, like a $16.95 location fee and $1.10 per page to send my records over to the new office. They also told me that it would be 3-4 weeks before they’d be sent out, and I need them at my new doctor’s office by Wednesday morning.

So, is this legal? Are they allowed to whack me for that charge when it’s an inter-office request and not personal copies? Are there regulations on this? I live in PA, if that makes any difference.

[Billdo]

According to this Health & Human Services fact sheet, the answer is yes:

Access To Medical Records. Patients generally should be able to see and obtain copies of their medical records and request corrections if they identify errors and mistakes. Health plans, doctors, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and other covered entities generally should provide access these records within 30 days and may charge patients for the cost of copying and sending the records.

The actual regulation may be found here. Section 164.524 addresses individual’s requests for information. Subsection ©(4) provides:

(4) Fees. If the individual requests a copy of the protected health information or agrees to a summary or explanation of such information, the covered entity may impose a reasonable, cost-based fee, provided that the fee includes only the cost of:

(i) Copying, including the cost of supplies for and labor of copying, the protected health information requested by the individual;

(ii) Postage, when the individual has requested the copy, or the summary or explanation, be mailed; and

(iii) Preparing an explanation or summary of the protected health information, if agreed to by the individual as required by paragraph ©(2)(ii) of this section.

[Jadis]

So I guess my next question would be whether a base rate of $16.95 plus $1.10/page is “reasonable and cost-based” for covering the cost of supplies and copying labor. I’d guess no, but how does one prove it?