SESSION OF 2002

SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON SENATE BILL NO. 377

As Amended by Senate Committee on

Judiciary

Brief

       SB 377 would require copies of health care records be furnished to a patient or a patient’s authorized representative within 30 days of the receipt of the authorization, or the health care provider shall notify the patient or the patient’s authorized representative of the reasons why copies are not available.

       Health care providers may condition the furnishing of the patient’s health care records upon the payment of charges not to exceed a $15 handling or service fee and $.35 per page for copies of health care records routinely duplicated on a standard photocopy machine. Providers may charge for the reasonable cost of all duplications which cannot be routinely duplicated on a standard photocopy machine.

       Any health care provider, patient, or authorized representative of a patient may bring a claim or action to enforce the provisions of this act. A court, upon a showing that the failure to comply with this act was without just cause or excuse, shall award the costs of the action and order the patient’s health care records produced without cost or expense to the requesting party. The bill shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the Kansas Register.

       The Senate Committee deleted a provision authorizing an annual adjustment in the charges permitted and clarified the bill shall not prohibit the State Board of Healing Arts from enforcing rules regarding the furnishing of health care records.

Background

       The bill was recommended by the 2001 Interim Special Committee on Judiciary. The Senate Committee deleted the cost indexing provision after determining there was no reliable index to measure inflationary effects on health records duplication.

       Proponents of SB 377 included the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association, the Kansas Bar Association, and AARP. The bill was opposed by the Kansas Medical Society, the Kansas Hospital Association, the Kansas Association of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Wesley Medical Center. Representatives of the Kansas Board of Healing Arts and the Kansas Department of Corrections also testified.

       There was no fiscal impact indicated by the fiscal note.