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We moved out of the city and my wife switched the doctor family, when she requested the old doctor forward her medical reports to the new one, we received a letter said that we have to pay the administrative fee for $75 so they can release the reports.
Where I live the fee is set by the state. I would look at your state's medical board website to see if they do the same. In my state they are only allowed to charge a $22 administrative fee at max. If they are giving the records to the patient they aren't allowed to charge at all.
I don't think it is legal to charge if it is going from one healthcare agency to another. There should only be a charge if they are releasing the records to the patient. That's how it works here anyway. Frankly I would call the state and request confirmation. If you want to tell us what state you are in I can find the right office for you to call.
"Administrative Fee's" for medical records can be limited by STATE law. You will need to see what the State Law says (and this is the state where the records are currently located, niot where they are going). Under federal law, fees for the records are limited to actual cost of material and labor to prepare the records. If its an electronic record, it may not cost much under federal law, but if its paper records, that can cost a lot as someone is copying the papers and their time is allowed to be charged to the person requesting the records.
We have never paid that much, but, when we changed doctors in Texas several years ago, the old one did charge us. I was shocked, but he was also a jerk and pissed because hubby did want another doctor. Since then we have had no problems. We have just now changed from our old PC doc but haven't had records switched yet. I will be anxious to see if there is a charge.
Amount charged per page for pages 1—20 $1.42
Amount charged per page for pages 21—60 $1.05
Amount charged per page for pages 61—end $.35
Amount charged per page for microfilm copies $2.09
Flat fee for production of records to support any claim under Social Security or any Federal or State financial needs based program $26.70
Flat fee for supplying records requested by a district attorney $21.08
* Search and retrieval of records $21.08
The fees listed previously shall apply for paper copies or reproductions on electronic media whether the records are stored on paper or in electronic format.
In addition to the amounts listed previously, charges may also be assessed for the actual cost of postage, shipping and delivery of the requested records.
Also, it is customary (though not required anywhere that I know of) for Doctors' offices to provide reciprocal service with regards to medical records of patients. In other words - if your new DOCTOR had called your old doctor and asked for the records and provided the appropriate release form signed by you, then your old doctor would usually send a copy of those records at no cost to you. It's only when YOU ask for the records to be transferred, that a doctor's office will typically charge for the service.
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