Physicians Practice - June 2008 - (Page 50) ASK THE EXPERTS It is my impression that most physicians offer charts free to other physicians. It sure would be silly to charge physicians and then have referrals dry up. GIVE AND TAKE A Well, first, why are you providing summaries instead of just sending the relevant part of the chart? That will save a ton of time and is allowed under HIPAA unless there is some reason to believe that handing over the whole record will somehow harm the patient. Rules about what you can charge for copies of records are state-based. HIPAA simply says any costs must be based on what it actually costs the practice to make the copies, including administrative costs for retrieval. Its language, and most state regulatory language, focuses primarily on providing records to patients, not other providers. It is my impression that most physicians offer charts free to other physicians. It sure would be silly to charge physicians and then have referrals dry up. Here are related comments from the American Association of Family Physicians (AAFP): Members of the AAFP’s Commission on Health Care Services were polled regarding whether they charge patients for copies of their medical records. The results showed that policies for charging patients and others for copies of patient records vary greatly depending on the reason for the request, the community standard, and contractual and regulatory requirements. • Some commission members responding to the poll charge patients nominal fees for copies of their records. Fees vary from 10 cents to 25 cents per page to a flat fee of $10 for up to 25 pages with a charge of 25 cents per page thereafter. • Most of those polled provide a copy of a patient’s medical record to another physician at no charge when the patient changes physicians. However, most physicians responding to the poll have office policies to discourage excessive “doctor shopping/switching,” usually by charging patients who request their records be copied and sent to other physicians multiple times. 50 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | JUNE 2008 WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://www.medinotes.com http://www.medinotesclinician.com http://www.medinotes.com http://www.medinotesclinician.com http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM
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