Why, you ask, are we discussing medical records on a blog devoted to employment law?  Simply because medical issues arise in employment cases, in a variety of contexts.  Disability cases are one example.  Damages issues in many kinds of cases involve medical records.

With that background, we pass along Max Kennerly's recent post on the scam that has been perpetrated by some medical providers or companies to which they outsource records work, by which they pass along to patients inflated bills for providing copies of medical records.

As Max's post points out, under a federal law known as HITECH, patients and their representatives are entitled to electronic copies of medical records, at cost.  That should mean the cost of loading the files onto a CD and putting them in the mail.  Instead, some providers make paper copies and charge exorbitant copying rates.  That is a legal no-no.

HITECH protects plaintiffs and defendants equally.  And it's important to know that the scam hits patients and their employers in the pocketbook, not the attorneys.  All of those expenses are passed through to the client even if the request comes from an attorney.