Patient records: maintenance and storage.

Existing law establishes procedures for providing access to various types of health care records, including patient records, as defined, by patients and persons having responsibility for decisions respecting the health care of others. Existing law gives health care providers, as defined, various responsibilities in connection with providing access to these records. This bill would require certain health care providers, no later than the date of the first service delivery, or as soon as reasonably practicable after an emergency treatment situation, to provide a statement to the patient, or the patient's representative, that sets forth the patient's rights and the intended retention period for the records. The bill would require those health care providers that plan to destroy patient records to notify the patient at least 60 days before a patient's records are to be destroyed, as provided. The bill would require a health care provider to provide a patient with his or her original medical records that the provider plans to destroy if the patient makes a request for the records to the provider before the date of the proposed destruction of the records. The bill would authorize a health care provider to charge a patient for the actual costs of copying, mailing, or shipping the patient's records under that provision. The bill would authorize the issuance of citations and the assessment of administrative penalties for violations. Under the bill, if a group practice or clinic comprised of health care providers subject to the bill is the custodian of patient records for those health care providers, the group practice or clinic, rather than the individual health care provider, would be required to comply with the bill's provisions.