CIOX Health, LLC maintains records for healthcare providers around the US. The complaint alleges that it fulfills over 50 million requests for medical information each year. But it also alleges that CIOX charges fees for these records which are well above what Maryland’s Confidentiality of Medical Records Act (CMRA) permits.
The CMRA limits the general price to 75 cents per page, or, if the records are maintained and provided electronically, “75% of the per-page fee” or 57 cents. Also for electronic records, the amount is capped, currently at $80.
“In addition to these per-page fees,” the complaint alleges, the CMRA also limits other fees
“and only permits a ‘preparation fee’ not to exceed a capped amount (currently $22.88) for Medical Records or electronic format Medical Records ‘retrieval and preparation.’”
The complaint says that some preparation and production prices are limited, depending on who requests the information. For example, the complaint claims, health care providers or agents are expressly forbidden “from charging any fee for providing copies of Medical Records requested by a ‘patient’ or the patient’s representative when the Medical Records ‘will be used for the purpose of filing a claim regarding or appealing a denial of Social Security disability income or Social Security benefits…”
But the complaint alleges that “CIOX routinely and consistently charges fees well in excess of those permitted by” the CMRA. For example, the complaint claims, CIOX may charge a Basic Fee of up to $22.88 to individuals to search for records, “but ultimately determines that the health care provider has no such records to retrieve or prepare.” The complaint claims that CIOX also charges various other fees that are not permitted, such as an Electronic Data Archive Fee or an Instant Download Fee, and will not cap the price of electronic records.
The complaint points to the fact that CIOX has operated in Maryland for twenty years to alleges that it knew or should have known that the fees it was charging were “unlawful, excessive and impermissible.”
The class for this action is all persons who, between February 3, 2010 and the present, asked for copies of medical records from a Maryland health care provider, or had their medical records requested by another person with their authorization an who either (1) were charged a fee by CIOX Health after it was determined that no such medical records existed, (2) were charged other junk fees (such as an Electronic Data Archive Fee, Digital Archive Fee, Retrieval Fee, or Instant Download Fee) or who were otherwise charge more than the maximum amounts permitted by Maryland’s CMRA, after October 1, 2021, for providing the records when they were to be used for filing a claim regarding or appealing a denial of Social Security disability income or Social Security benefits under Title II or Title XVI of the Social Security Act.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
CIOX Health Excessive Medical Records Fees in Maryland Complaint
March 14, 2022
CIOX Health, LLC maintains records for healthcare providers around the US. The complaint alleges that it fulfills over 50 million requests for medical information each year. But it also alleges that CIOX charges fees for these records which are well above what Maryland’s Confidentiality of Medical Records Act (CMRA) permits.
CIOX Health Excessive Medical Records Fees in Maryland ComplaintCase Event History
CIOX Health Excessive Medical Records Fees in Maryland Complaint
March 14, 2022
CIOX Health, LLC maintains records for healthcare providers around the US. The complaint alleges that it fulfills over 50 million requests for medical information each year. But it also alleges that CIOX charges fees for these records which are well above what Maryland’s Confidentiality of Medical Records Act (CMRA) permits.
CIOX Health Excessive Medical Records Fees in Maryland Complaint