Law / United States / 
Massachusetts
Hospital and clinic treatment records: patient inspection, copies and retention
In force.
A data subject rights rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Data subject rights, Retention
- Audit expectation
- none
As of .
What it requires
- If you are a hospital or clinic subject to licensure by the department of public health or supported in whole or in part by the commonwealth, keep records of the treatment of the cases under your care, including the medical history and nurses' notes.
- Let the patient, the patient's attorney on the patient's written authorization, or the executor or administrator of a deceased patient's estate (or that person's attorney on written authorization) inspect the records, and furnish a copy on request for a reasonable fee within the section's caps. A hospital or clinic under the control of the department of mental health is excepted from this inspection right.
- Destroy records only after the applicable retention period has elapsed and after notifying the department of public health; in the event of a transfer of ownership or permanent closing, keep the records or arrange for their preservation for the required time.
- On the notice of privacy practices you distribute to patients, include information concerning section 70 and your records termination policy.
- Furnish a health record requested for a claim or appeal under the Social Security Act or a federal or state financial needs-based benefit program within thirty days of the request, and charge no fee for it.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
What this law does
Section 70 of chapter 111 requires a hospital or clinic subject to licensure by the department of public health, or supported in whole or in part by the commonwealth, to keep records of the treatment of the cases under its care, including the medical history and nurses' notes. Section 70 provides that such records may be inspected by the patient to whom they relate, except in a hospital or clinic under the control of the department of mental health.
Section 70 limits the reasonable fee for a copy of a hospital or clinic medical record to a base charge of not more than $15 for each request, not more than $0.50 per page for each of the first 100 pages copied and not more than $0.25 per page for each page in excess of 100 pages. Section 70 provides that the reasonable fee may be adjusted so that the base amount and the per page charge are increased by the proportional consumer price index for medical care services.
Section 70 allows a hospital or clinic to destroy records only after the applicable retention period has elapsed and after notifying the department of public health that the records will be destroyed. Section 70 requires a hospital or clinic to provide, on the notice of privacy practices distributed to its patients, information concerning the provisions of the section and its records termination policy.
Section 70 requires a health care provider to furnish a health record requested for a claim or appeal under the Social Security Act or a federal or state financial needs-based benefit program within thirty days of the request.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app handles health records.