Medical Record Fee Limits Drop Slightly in 2010

The amount providers may charge for copying medical records will drop by about a penny per page in 2010. The pricing adjustments are based on Bureau of Labor and Statistics' Consumer Price Index, which saw a decrease of .6 percent.

Patients may only be charged for copying and mailing costs, up to $1.32 per page for pages 1-20, 98 cents per page for pages 21-60, and 33 cents per page for pages 61 and up. Patients may not be charged for the cost of searching for and retrieving the medical record.

Act 26 of 2006 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) set limits for medical record copying charges but do not mandate that fees be charged.

For more information, read this PDF. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Add Your Comments


The Pennsylvania Medical Society encourages lively debate, but please behave courteously and responsibly. Comments that include profanity, personal attacks (including language that could potentially identify an individual), or any other inappropriate, offensive, or illegal material will be removed. For more information, please see our Terms of Use.

Display name as (optional):

Comments (max 2000 characters):




Comments: 12


We can't comment on this because of the limited information available. Because you're a law office, you may want to call the bar association or review PA Act 26 of 2006 and the federal HIPAA law.

PA Medical Society at 5/12/2010 9:24:23 AM


I would like to know why as a legal professional my office has to pay the search and retreival fee TWICE for one request...one for the medical records company and the other for the billing department. How is that fair to our client/your patient? Is that even legal?

Confused at 5/11/2010 2:29:59 PM


Doctors and staff give such a tough time to get a copy of my records. I would copy it for them and do their job for them and copy it quicker myself. They may be busy at times but have down time that they can copy it . I pay for my records copy but I deserve respect . They act like I am asking for a favor to get them to do what I am legally allowed to have- a copy of my information on my body! Dam lazy @@@###$$%$ in PA

unknown at 5/3/2010 9:25:48 PM


NO! there is no charge for faxing records.. are you kidding? The people receiveing your faxed records are using their own ink and toner, you might be entitled to your search fee in that case. Its ok to faxe 20-50 page but come on I have seen records in the hundreds coming over via fax. If your that busy and you cant copy them, then hire a copy service to do it for you!

anonymous at 4/15/2010 8:29:07 AM


Any comments on the ethics of Dr. A charging Dr. B (or the patient) for copies of medical records when Dr B is assuming care for the patient? In my days in the ivory tower, this was considered very unprofessional (since Dr B would be accepting medicolegal responsibility for the patient), but what do you practicing physicians in the community feel about this? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Averroes at 4/11/2010 10:41:35 PM


I'll certainly miss the fee for searching and retrieving records , particularly since oftentimes those records are in storage !! And why are we not reimbursed for that fee as many times it is (Life) Insurance companies who want those records----they are in the business of making money (aren't we too entitled??) !!

dr.derm at 3/15/2010 5:26:05 PM


How many times do we have to keep copying the same records over and over for a 20 year old trying to get disability....I say after 1 copy let the last lawyer to get them make the copy....I bet they wouldn't do it for nothing!

anonymous at 3/4/2010 3:54:45 PM


Your calculation did not factor in the indirect cost. It is like arguing that emergency room should charge less than a dollar for a dose of acetominophen. The indirect cost is missing in the argument. By the way, you can give away a copy of medical records for your patients. The law does not prohibit that. It just limits the maximum amount. So every practice has to estimate what constitutes a reasonable charge.

anonymous at 2/17/2010 6:59:52 PM


What is outrageous is being charged $50 to have 40 pages copied. I do understand being compensated to some extend, but come on. It does not take hours to copy 40 pages. And it does not take $50 to re-coup those costs. You can buy a case of paper (5,000 sheets) for under $35.00. Even if the emloyee copying takes 30 minutes to copy 40 pages and they make $20 and hour that is only $10.00 worth of labor and maybe $1.00 worth of paper.

anonymous at 2/5/2010 3:30:09 PM


is there a per page cost for FAXING requested patient records?

anonymous at 1/11/2010 6:57:33 PM


Outrageous is an understatement. Patient ignorance in this field is problematic. That they only own the intangible medical information relating to their health care should be posted in every office on a GIANT poster as well as included in the original agreement for services. Records don't copy themselves, and medical staff members are taken away from patient care to sit at a copy machine for hours. HIPAA suggested fees are a joke. Some offices get up to 20+ requests PER DAY. How can an office offset their expenses at 25 cents per page? Easy answer: They CAN'T.

anonymous at 1/6/2010 12:02:25 PM


the situation regarding patients and record copying is outrageous. Patients objecting to paying for copies they request say that the "records are theirs". Our answer is that the records indeed belong to the physician not the patient, and that the patient's rights stop at being able to request copies of the information, for which there is a charge since it costs us money to reproduce them.

anonymous at 12/15/2009 8:33:14 PM

Last Updated: 5/25/2010
From: 
Email:  
To: 
Email:  
Subject: 
Message: