Dive Brief:
- Three patients are filing a class-action suit against MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and George Washington University Hospital alleging the hospitals broke District of Columbia consumer protection laws by asking them to pay “hundreds to thousands of dollars” to obtain electronic copies of their medical records, Washington Business Journal reports.
- The patients are filing the suit on behalf of all patient who obtained medical records from the hospitals.
- The Journal reports the suit cites two examples where Health Port, a contractor hired by MedStar, responded to requests for EMRs with invoices for $1,168 and $1,558. The charges included a per-page copying fee, a basic fee and a shipping and handling fee, according to the suit.
Dive Insight:
DC entitles patients to a medical record copy for a reasonable fee within 30 days, alleges the suit. In addition, federal law requires such reocrds to be provided electronically as an EMR if available.
“The law, it says, only allows a medical provider to charge a fee for the cost of labor for copying and preparing a summary, the cost of the paper and electronic media (such as a CD) and postage,” the Journal reports.