Got a call from my soon-to-be EX physician's office.

[ThatsMyBarack]

The middleperson on the other end of the line said I'd be getting a $55 bill for records transfer to my new physician.

:wtf: Why do I feel nickel-and-dimed right now??

Have you ever heard of such a thing??

[mikelgb]

1. tell them no thanks and pick them up yourself if you can

[ThatsMyBarack]

4. They'd still find a way to charge $

for SOMEthing....

Plus also, I'd have to pay at least 10 bucks to park over there!

[damntexdem]

14. Offer to sue them if they don't transfer the records for free.

And report the doc to your state's medical-practices board.

[liberal N proud]

2. I would tell them for $55 I will be over to drive the records myself

If all medical record were in a national database, this would not be necessary.

[PDJane]

3. Yes.

I had to pay for photocopying of a massive amount of paper; the records here actually belong to the doctor, and the cost is for the photocopy. $135.00 worth of photocopy at 5 cents per double-sided page. That's a lot of paper.

[ThatsMyBarack]

5. Those poor trees!

:(

[barbiegeek]

6. They can't do that--Your medical records are YOUR private property

[cbayer]

7. Not true. The doctor owns the records. The patient is entitled to a copy.

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

8. They can do that.

Per HIPAA the INFORMATION in your medical records belongs to you, but the physical records belong to your physician. It takes staff time and resources to copy everything in your chart, and your physician is within his or her rights to charge you for those resources.

[Xithras]

9. Yes they can.

Your records are your property, but they can charge you for the use of their paper and the staff time involved with the transfer, as well as whatever markup they want to put onto those services.

Because your records are your property, you do have the right to avoid paying the fees if you want. Just schlepp a portable photocopier down to your doctors office, make a copy of all the records, and take them to the new doctor yourself.

Legally, you own the information, but not the medium.

[wolfgangmo]

10. The medical INFORMATION is yours.

The paper belongs to the doctors office (as well as the staff time costs to photocopy).This may seem strange to some but it actually makes sense. The doctor is not charging your for the information but for staff costs to photocopy and replicate your records.

FYI - a national database is a BAD idea. Any such database would be a datamine for marketing by pharma, not to mention what insurance companies would do with the information. Why give the crooks another tool to use against the people. (I own a medical clinic and will fight a national database law with everything I have because it is bad for patients). Doctors offices cannot just hand over your file to you because they are required by law (3 to 7 years depending on jurisdictions, license, and other factors) to have a copy on hand and secured. Thus the copies.


Having said all of that, most doctors offices will just hand you over a copy as a courtesy. However, the easiest way to get those records is to simply have your new doc request them. As a courtesy, most doc offices will send records for free to each other (quid pro quo).


I hope this info helps.

[Donnachaidh]

11. don't feel bad`- I had to pay ten bucks for the doctor's signature on papers for my kid's school!

I was freaking outraged! We were told it was for his *time* - I then asked if I could deduct for my TIME spent in the waiting room because they routinely overbook appointments.

These are the doctors who need a wake up call.

[SoCalDem]

12. When my son moved, it cost over $400 to get copies of the important

records he needed. The clinic "owns" them, and would SELL me copies to forward to him.

He HAD to have the actual xrays/.not just a summary that someone wrote..and of course he needed the treatment records of his surgeries.

His new doctors had written for his records, and only got a few pages of compressed summation.

[quiet.american]

13. Ask them if they'll take a couple chickens in lieu. Sue Lowden says that works very well.

But seriously -- what a scam. That is just outrageous.

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. I was charged $57 for the records that sealed my fate as an uninsurable

pre-exister. Yes, I've heard worse. :(

[HopeHoops]

16. Just be sure to tell EVERYONE you encounter exactly which physician and what they're doing.

Bonus points for adding a "DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON!" during the discussion.