rleif1sun
Guru
our acute care team will produce CD for x-rays and provide to patient. is this seperately billable?
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Wiki providing CD for x-ray
- Thread starter rleif1sun
- Start date
CBLENNIE
Expert
According to the US HHS providers may charge a reasonable fee to cover the costs of providing a copy of a patient's medical record to them. They further state you cannot charge the patient a fee for searching for or retrieving their medical records. Here is a link to the US HHS website for patients regarding their rights to obtain their medical records. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/medical-records/index.html
Unfortunately, the HHS does not define what a reasonable fee is here, but I would think the cost of the CD and the nominal labor charges associated with a member of your staff downloading record to the CD and creating the CD can be charged to the patient. Also, the patient has a right to request the information be provided to them via email which would be less of an expense for the patient and your practice, so that might be an option for patients who are sensitive to any charges that you might apply for creating the CD.
Also, some states have laws/regulations/statutes which dictate how much you can charge a patient for copies of their medical records so make sure you are checking with your specific state to see if they have mandated fee limits.
Unfortunately, the HHS does not define what a reasonable fee is here, but I would think the cost of the CD and the nominal labor charges associated with a member of your staff downloading record to the CD and creating the CD can be charged to the patient. Also, the patient has a right to request the information be provided to them via email which would be less of an expense for the patient and your practice, so that might be an option for patients who are sensitive to any charges that you might apply for creating the CD.
Also, some states have laws/regulations/statutes which dictate how much you can charge a patient for copies of their medical records so make sure you are checking with your specific state to see if they have mandated fee limits.
jkyles
True Blue
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Great answer above, I would just add that this must be done on the patient's request. That is, the patient must specifically ask for the images and that they be on a CD-ROM. Or, if the patient requested it in a format your practice couldn't provide, you came to an agreement that a CD was acceptable to the patient. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/access/index.html
rleif1sun
Guru
can insurance be billed for providing the records via CD?
CBLENNIE
Expert
Are you asking about billing the patient's insurance company for medical records requested by the patient for their own use? If so, then in general most insurance companies will not pay for charges related to providing copies of medical records to the patient.
I have never heard of a health insurance company paying either for records provided to the patient, nor requested by the insurance company to process a claim. This is likely specified in your provider contract.
For patients requesting copies of their records, NY permits a maximum charge of 75 cents per page. Copies of xrays on CD would be limited to the practice cost to do so.
For patients requesting copies of their records, NY permits a maximum charge of 75 cents per page. Copies of xrays on CD would be limited to the practice cost to do so.