WSR 20-10-025
PERMANENT RULES
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
[Filed April 27, 2020, 3:52 p.m., effective May 28, 2020]
Effective Date of Rule: Thirty-one days after filing.
Purpose: WAC 246-08-400, health care provider charges for searching and duplicating records, the department of health (department) is making the biennial adjustment to the maximum amounts health care providers are allowed to charge for searching and duplicating health care records. RCW
70.02.010(38) requires the department to adjust the amounts every biennium based on the change in the consumer price index (CPI) for the Seattle-Tacoma area. The adopted rule increases the maximum amount that may be charged by 6.3 percent.
Citation of Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 246-08-400.
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 20-04-029 on January 28, 2020.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at the Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's own Initiative: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: April 24, 2020.
Jessica Todorovich
Chief of Staff
for John Wiesman, DrPH, MPH
Secretary
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 17-17-019, filed 8/7/17, effective 9/7/17)
WAC 246-08-400((How much can a))Health care providers((charge))charging for searching and duplicating health care records((?)).
RCW
70.02.010((
(37)))
(38) allows health care providers to charge fees for searching and duplicating health care records. The fees a provider may charge cannot exceed the fees listed below:
(1) Copying charge per page:
(a) No more than one dollar and ((seventeen))twenty-four cents per page for the first thirty pages;
(b) No more than ((eighty-eight))ninety-four cents per page for all other pages.
(2) Additional charges:
(a) The provider can charge a ((twenty-six))twenty-eight dollar clerical fee for searching and handling records;
(b) If the provider personally edits confidential information from the record, as required by statute, the provider can charge the usual fee for a basic office visit.
(3) HIPAA covered entities as defined in 45 C.F.R. Sec. 103 may not charge fees or costs that are not authorized by, or are prohibited by, Federal HIPAA regulation 45 C.F.R. Sec. 164.