A patient may authorize a health care provider or health care facility to disclose the patient's health care information. A health care provider or health care facility must honor an authorization and, if requested, provide a copy of the health care records. A health care provider or health care facility may charge a reasonable fee for providing the records and is not required to honor an authorization until the fee is paid. An authorization must be in writing, dated, and signed by the patient.
Upon request of a patient or a patient's personal representative, a health care facility or health care provider shall provide the patient or representative with one copy of the patient's records free of charge if the patient is appealing the denial of federal supplemental security income or social security disability benefits. A health care facility or health care provider is not required to provide a patient or a patient's personal representative with a free copy of health care information that has previously been provided free of charge pursuant to a request within the preceding two years.
"Reasonable fee" means the charges for duplicating or searching the record, but shall not exceed $0.65 per page for the first 30 pages and $0.50 per page for all other pages. A clerical fee for searching and handling may be charged not to exceed $15. These amounts shall be adjusted biennially in accordance with changes in the consumer price index, all consumers, for Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan statistical area as determined by the secretary of health. Where editing of records by a health care provider is required by statute and is done by the provider personally, the fee may be the usual and customary charge for a basic office visit.
A health care provider or health care facility, or a third party acting on behalf of a health care provider or health care facility, including any agent, vendor, or business associate, may not charge a fee of more than $50 for providing a patient's health care information to:
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In all other instances, a health care provider or health care facility may charge a reasonable fee for providing health care information to a person and is not required to honor an authorization until the fee is paid.
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An authorization to disclose health care information must be signed by the patient, the patient's personal representative, or any person or entity designated by the patient to receive the information.??
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The existing statutory definition of reasonable fee is removed and the Department of Social and Health Services must adopt rules to establish standards for a reasonable fee. The standards must recognize the prevalence of the use of electronic health record searching and exchange capabilities and consider federal laws related to the establishment of fees for accessing and exchanging health care information. The standards must be based upon the actual costs of searching and producing the particular patient's records and may not be based upon a per page calculation.?