Access to medical records.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and digest do not provide information on penalties or specific start dates, leaving these details uncertain.

Access to Medical Records

The bill prohibits health care providers from charging patients fees for completing forms needed by schools or childcare centers.

What This Bill Does

• It says that health care providers cannot charge patients money for filling out forms required by educational institutions or child care providers.

Who It Names or Affects

• Patients who need medical records or forms completed by their healthcare provider.
• Healthcare providers who must comply with new requirements about charging fees.
• Educational institutions and childcare providers that require health-related forms from students or children.

Terms To Know

health care provider

A doctor, hospital, clinic, or other place where people get medical help.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much money healthcare providers can charge for other services.
• It is unclear if there will be any penalties for health care providers who break this new rule.
• There are no details about when or how the law will start.

Official Summary Text

SB 980, as amended, Hurtado.
Access to medical records.
Existing law governs a patient’s access to their health records. Existing law requires a health care provider, as defined, to provide a patient or the patient’s representative with all or any part of the patient’s medical records that the patient has a right to inspect, subject to the payment of clerical costs incurred in locating and making the records available, following a written request from the patient. Existing law entitles a patient, employee of a nonprofit legal services entity representing the patient, or the personal representative of a patient, to a copy, at no charge, of the relevant portion of the patient’s records upon written request. Existing law also prohibits a health care provider from charging a fee to a patient for filling out forms or providing information responsive to forms that support a claim or appeal regarding eligibility for a public benefit program.
Existing law makes a willful violation of these provisions by specified health care providers an infraction.
This bill would additionally prohibit a health care provider form charging a fee to a patient for completing health-related forms required by an educational institution
or childcare provider
for
a pupil’s
participation in school,
child care,
childcare,
or school-sponsored activities. By expanding the requirements on health care providers and thereby expanding a crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
The
California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF