Here at The Records Company, we spend a lot of time thinking about HIPAA and its associated state regulations. First enacted in 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act has gone through a number of changes in its 20-plus years on the federal books, and individual states have enacted their own regulations to accompany the HIPAA’s broader federal requirements. Because we retrieve records all over the United States, we track all the rules, all the time.
More Than Privacy
HIPAA is best known for protecting patient privacy, limiting access to medical records to patients themselves and their legally designated representatives. This limited access is designed to prevent discrimination on the basis of medical conditions as well as fraudulent activity based on medical records. Less commonly known is the right of access or access rule, which allows patients or their designated representatives to access and request their medical records in the format of their choosing, to be delivered to a recipient of their choosing.
The access rule also mandates “reasonable cost-based fees” for copying and retrieval of records. These include the cost of copying as well as affiliated supplies and labor, postage where applicable, and other preparations. States are free to designate how to manage these costs, which tend to vary widely according to the size and scope of the records requested, but these fees are ultimately set to protect individual patients from unnecessary and excessive expense for retrieving the records to which they are legally entitled.
HIPAA in 2018
While the Access Rule and associated state regulations allow individuals to retrieve their medical records for a “reasonable fee,” the rules are less explicit about how these costs apply to designated representatives. Some healthcare and records providers argue records requested by third parties, such as attorneys, should not be subjected to the same fee restrictions placed on individual requests, and this conflict is making its way through the courts as of early 2018.
The Records Company handles requests our clients submit on behalf of their clients and customers, we know there is an individual behind each request who is entitled to the “reasonable fees” guaranteed under HIPAA. We simplify the retrieval process to save you and your clients time and stress, but that doesn’t mean the records themselves should cost you or your clients more. When you file a request with us, you can rest assured that we are using our comprehensive knowledge of state and federal regulations to ensure “reasonable fees” for our clients, for your clients.