A November 2008 decision of the Illinois Appellate Court held that automatically charging a flat “handling fee” to copy medical records is improper under Part 20 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, which addresses medical record fees. Currently, Illinois law states that a provider may be reimbursed a handling charge not to exceed $20.00 (adjusted each year for inflation and set at $23.80 for 2009), in addition to a maximum per-page fee. The court determined that automatically charging every patient a flat $20.00 fee is not permissible, unless such a charge reflects the reasonable cost of providing the records.

Although this recent decision marks the first time an Illinois court has questioned the validity of a flat-fee handling charge for medical records, this practice has been prohibited in all states under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”). HIPAA specifically allows providers to charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for medical records (i.e. labor and supply costs of copying and postage), with a state’s per-page copy charge considered presumptively “reasonable.” A provider may not, however, charge a “handling” fee for processing or retrieving medical records.

To be compliant with both federal and Illinois law a provider may only charge the per-page copying fee within the limits imposed by Illinois statute. Any flat-fee charges or charges related to retrieving or processing medical record requests are not permissible.

Should you have any questions regarding your current medical record fee request policies or fees, please contact us. Our attorneys are happy to review your current procedures and assist you in complying with federal and state law.