So what's the current law and how can you get medical records for cheap again? HITECH requests are still available-so long as the client designates you as his personal representative This rule will likely take effect in the second half of 2021.
HHS published a notice of proposed rulemaking in mid-December 2020 that reinstates the fee limitation for third-party directive HITECH requests and shortens the time for providers to produce the records to 15 days. In May 2020, HHS published rule making in the Federal Register about the 21st Century Cures Act, a 2016 law that amended portions of the HITECH Act, which signaled that HHS still considered cheap and easy patient access to medical records a priority, but did not fix the problem created by Azar. The other protections of HITECH remained, but medical record companies quickly went back to charging a per page rate. In late January 2020, the Azar decision removed the fee limitation for third-party directives (when the client wants the records sent to someone else). Before this year, a client could request his medical records and have them sent to his lawyer and the request was subject to a fee limitation under HITECH. That’s very much true with the law concerning requesting a client’s medical records. Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, said change is the only constant in life. Leave a comment about how the HITECH Act helps your clients. **The comment period for HHS’s notice of proposed rulemaking is open until March 22, 2021.