HOUSE BILL 495
By Baum
SENATE BILL 606
By Bailey
SB0606
002331
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 63
and Title 68, relative to medical records.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 68-11-304(a)(2)(A), is amended by
deleting the subdivision and substituting:
(2)
(A) For records other than those involving workers' compensation cases:
(i) The party requesting the patient's medical records in paper
format is responsible to the provider or the provider's third-party release
of information provider for the reasonable costs of copying and mailing
the patient's records. Such reasonable costs must not exceed:
(a) Twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for paper copies of
medical records five (5) pages or less in length;
(b) Fifty cents (50¢) per page for each page copied after
the first five (5) pages;
(c) Twenty dollars ($20.00) per printed film for producing
radiology images in hard copy; and
(d) The actual cost of mailing;
(ii) If a party described in subdivision (a)(2)(A)(i) requests
certification or notarization, then a certification or notary fee must be
charged as a flat fee of twenty dollars ($20.00);
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(iii) The party requesting the patient's records in electronic format
is responsible to the provider or the provider's third-party release of
information provider for the following fees:
(a) The reasonable fees for fulfilling a patient's request for
the patient's own records are governed by the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 (42 U.S.C. §
1320d et seq.), and the Health Information Technology for
Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act (42 U.S.C. § 201 et
seq.), and those acts implementing regulations, which must not
exceed the cost of the following:
(1) Labor for copying the protected health
information requested by the individual;
(2) Supplies for creating the paper copy, or
electronic media if the individual requests that the
electronic copy be provided on portable media; and
(3) Postage, when the individual has requested the
copy, summary, or explanation be mailed; and
(b) For all other requesters, the total fees for electronic
medical records provided via portable media, electronic mail, or
medical record portal, must comply with the following:
(1) The total charges must be no more than five
dollars ($5.00) for records ten (10) pages or less in length;
(2) The total charges must be no more than
twenty-five cents (25¢) per page for each page after the
first ten (10) pages, up to twenty-five dollars ($25.00);
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(3) The mailing costs and applicable taxes, if any,
must be the actual mailing costs and applicable taxes;
(4) The fee for producing electronic copies of
radiology images must be no more than twenty-five dollars
($25.00) per request for CD, DVD, or USB, or fifteen
dollars ($15.00) per request for electronic files emailed or
sent via medical record portal;
(5) If certification or notarization is requested, then
a certification or notary fee must be charged as a flat fee of
twenty dollars ($20.00);
(6) Charges for copying paper records or faxing
paper records are subject to the limits set in subdivisions
(a)(2)(A)(i); and
(7) The fees charged for reproducing records of
patients involved in a claim or appeal of denial for social
security disability benefits must be a flat fee of twenty
dollars ($20.00), only when the records are produced
electronically;
(iv) Upon request, a person providing records pursuant to this
section shall provide the records in electronic form unless the records are
not kept in electronic form in the usual course of business;
(v) A third-party release of information provider of record copying
and related services is subject to the fee limits contained in this section
and shall not impose a charge or fee for such service in excess of such
fee limits; and
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(vi) The fees charged for reproducing records of patients involved
in a workers' compensation claim are as specified in § 50-6-204.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 68-11-304(d), is amended by
deleting the subsection.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.