How Much Does It Cost To Transfer Dental Records

Since 1996, federal statutes under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Human activity (HIPAA) have mandated patients' lawful right of access to their healthcare records. This includes treatment progress notes, radiographs, CT scans, billing records, and more.

Providers or their clinics have a 30-day time limit to provide records, with very few exceptions, especially for dental records. Patients may request records for themselves, a specialist, their legal counsel, another provider, professional peer review, a regulatory board, or other parties they deem appropriate.

Under very limited exceptions, a provider may extend the 30-twenty-four hours menstruation through a review appeals process. Farther, some states' statutes accept shortened that 30-day timeframe.

The public has not only been informed of their rights to access their healthcare records by authorities agencies, merely also by the media. Mostly, the public knows nearly these rights, and misrepresentations and obfuscation by healthcare violators may non be perceived well.

Source providers should retain and maintain original records as their holding for the proscribed time period under state laws. Original records should never exist relinquished except by a lawful court order.

All the same, record copies (not the original records) should be transferred upon patient request. Notes should exist legible, and radiographs and CT scans should be of diagnostic quality. Forwarded radiographs via fax machine or blurred photocopy lab records are unacceptable. In fact, such acts may exist viewed every bit "red flags" by potential investigators and draw unwanted attending.

A nominal fee may be charged patients for the labor of photocopying, materials, postage stamp, and other costs. Nix may exist charged for labor in the search for records. Additionally, some states have a gear up proscribed fee for tape copy and transfer nether their laws.

Regardless, charging patients an excessive processing fee for record copies is expressly prohibited under federal HIPAA statutes. In fact, many healthcare providers deliver this service for gratis in the interest of patient welfare.

The law also outlines seven invalid reasons for not forwarding patient records:

The patient may have an outstanding account residual.
The provider is concerned most a potential legal action or regulatory board investigation.
The patient has failed to pay an excessive fee for record copies and transfer.
The provider requires the patient to physically come up into office to demonstrate proof of identity.
The patient is required to enter a website portal for their records request.
The patient is required to mail in the records request.
The healthcare provider requires patients to produce and reveal their reasons for record copies.

Realities

Almost dental facilities fully comply with patients' rights when it comes to accessing to their records. Unfortunately, some do not.

In fact, failure to forward patient records upon patient request in a timely mode is a very common complaint received and reviewed by state dental boards. In many states, this violation goes across federal HIPAA rules and regulations and specifically into land authoritative codes.

State regulators under state dental boards touch dental licensure standings. Further, a few land dental boards too regulate not-dentist owners of dental practices. Such dental board complaints extend from solo practioners to isolated group practices and into certain dental service organizations (DSOs).

If records aren't forwarded to the next provider, possible harm may non only come to patients, but to provider colleagues as well. These practitioners are often placed in a difficult position, especially if they are a credentialed Medicaid or preferred provider organization (PPO) doctor.

For case, the new provider may seemingly have the option of taking new images or exam for costless, as the time menses for payment allowance by the patient's plan will non recoup for added images or exams. This may be financially untenable in clinics with tight operational budgets.

Patients might exist required to pay out-of-pocket for current images, even though recent images are theoretically available from a previous provider. This accuse to patients may be in breach of the current provider's participation contract.

As too often happens, the newest provider may limp along with inadequate diagnostic records and images, and an incomplete treatment plan, until plan policies remunerate for updated records and images. While a plan's failure to compensate for necessary services may promote the interests of the insurance manufacture or Medicaid budgets, this policy fails to adequately serve patients or doctors.

Enforcement

Rules and regulations are meaningless without vigorous enforcement. In fact, failure of enforcement of statutes generally enables and promotes lawlessness. In issue, a paucity of regulatory enforcement is consistent with a tacit government policy of "criminal offense pays." For years since the passage of HIPAA in 1996, federal enforcement of patient rights of tape access has been grossly remiss.

Then lightening struck, and it struck twice in Florida in 2019 when the US Department of Health and Man Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights settled 2 separate cases involving a healthcare entity'south failure to properly and lawfully forrard patient records.

Korunda Medical and Bayfront Health entered into formal resolution agreements with HHS. Neither healthcare group admitted wrongdoing. Each is required to spend the fourth dimension, effort, and expense of compliance with a formal Cosmetic Action Plan. Each is too to remit a sum of $85,000 to HHS.

Decision

Many organizations have been advising the dental profession about patient rights relating to the transfer of dental records since the passage of the federal HIPAA statutes in 1996. This includes the federal authorities, the ADA, land dental boards, and state dental associations. Until recently in Florida, few alleged violations of consequence have been prosecuted.

Ignorance of these laws volition offer offenders a poor legal defence force. Finally, patient rights relating to transfer of their healthcare records are today being enforced with a vigor and emphasis not witnessed previously.

Dr. Davis practices full general dentistry in Santa Fe, NM. He assists as an expert witness in dental fraud and malpractice legal cases. He currently chairs the Santa Iron District Dental Gild Peer-Review Committee and serves every bit a state dental association fellow member to its house of delegates. He extensively writes and lectures on related matters. He may be reached at mwdavisdds@comcast.internet or smilesofsantafe.com.

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Source: https://www.dentistrytoday.com/patients-have-the-rights-to-their-dental-records/