No. SB 1140
Filed under Healthcare.
Patient Access to Records; Requiring mental health service providers to furnish clinical records in accordance with specified requirements and within a specified timeframe after receiving a written request for such records; revising provisions related to the release of patient records by hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to conform to changes made by the act; requiring substance abuse service providers to furnish clinical records in accordance with specified requirements and within a specified timeframe after receiving a written request; revising the timeframe within which a nursing home facility must provide access to, and copies of, resident records after receiving a request for such records, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDHospitals, doctors, mental health providers, substance-abuse providers, and other licensed facilities must now furnish copies of patient records within 30 calendar days of a written request, replacing the old open-ended standard and, for hospitals, the requirement to wait until after discharge.
Nursing homes face an even tighter clock. A current resident must get access to records within 24 hours and copies within 2 business days, down from 14 working days under existing law.
The cap on what a hospital can charge for electronic copies of records more than triples, from $2 to $6.50 per request, while paper copies stay capped at $1 a page.
A new law also gives patients and their designated representatives, including attorneys, the right to inspect original records in person within 10 business days at most AHCA-licensed providers.
AIHospitals and ambulatory surgical centers could previously withhold full copies until after a patient's discharge, with no fixed deadline beyond a vague 'timely manner' standard. The bill drops that precondition and sets a hard 30-calendar-day deadline running from the request itself.
AINew subsections give patients in mental-health treatment and substance-abuse treatment a clinical-records right that did not exist in this form before, requiring the provider to furnish a copy within 30 calendar days of a written request.
AICuts the nursing-home deadline for a current resident from 14 working days down to 2 business days for copies, and adds a new requirement that the facility let the resident see the records within 24 hours.
AIA newly created statute requires most AHCA-licensed providers to let a client or legal representative examine the original records, not just receive copies, within 10 business days of a request.
AIGeneral health care practitioners could previously satisfy the law by furnishing copies in a timely manner, with no fixed number of days. The bill replaces that standard with the same firm deadlines used elsewhere in the act.
AIThe per-request ceiling a hospital or ambulatory surgical center can charge for nonpaper copies of patient records more than triples, from $2 to $6.50, while the $1-per-page cap for paper copies is unchanged.