It is our policy to provide you and other health care providers ready access to necessary medical information. Fortunately, it is easy for us to create a summary of your care that includes our initial assessment, your diagnoses, and a complete record of any medication we may have prescribed.
Unfortunately, if you want a complete copy of your record, due to the nature of electronic health records, we may generate a PDF that is hundreds of pages long. And creating that PDF and faxing it somewhere may take quite a bit of staff time.
Our policy is to bill for that time at a rate that is well below the rate for clinical services (see the bottom of the fee list for that amount).
California Laws Regarding Fees
Various California laws govern the charge for release of information, but the charges that they allow are always higher than what we charge.
Current fees (2020), in California, are…
Fees for providing records as part of a legal procedure…
Search Fee: $4.00 (or $6.00 depending on requestor)
Evidence Fee: $15.00
Pages 1+: $0.10 per page
Microfilm: $0.20 per page
Fees if you request a copy of your records…
Pursuant to Health & Safety Code section 123110, a doctor can charge 25 cents per page plus a reasonable clerical fee. For diagnostic films, such as an x-ray, MRI, CT and PET scans, you can be charged the actual cost of copying the films. This only applies if you have made a written request for a copy of your medical records to be provided to you.
Again, records can run to hundreds and hundred of pages due to the nature of printing electronic health records.