Law / United States / 
Nebraska
Patient access to medical records: providers' duty to furnish copies and make records available
Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 71-8401 to 71-8407
In force.
A data subject rights rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Data subject rights
- Audit expectation
- none
As of .
What it requires
- If you are a health care provider, give a patient who asks in writing a copy of the patient's medical records not later than thirty days after the request is received (Neb. Rev. Stat. 71-8403(2)).
- On a written request to examine the records, respond as promptly as the circumstances require and no later than ten days after receiving it: make the records available during regular business hours, tell the patient if they do not exist or cannot be found, name the provider that maintains them if known, or explain a delay in writing with the earliest date, not later than twenty-one days after the request (71-8403(3)).
- You may withhold mental health medical records only if a treating physician, psychologist or mental health practitioner determines in professional opinion that release would not be in the patient's best interest, and you must release them if a court order requires it (71-8403(1)).
- Do not charge more than twenty dollars as a handling fee and fifty cents per page as a copying fee for records provided under 71-8403, and charge no fee for records a patient requests in support of the benefit applications and appeals 71-8405(1) lists (71-8404 and 71-8405).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
What this law does
A patient may request a copy of the patient's medical records or request to examine them, and the request and any authorization must be in writing. A provider must furnish a copy not later than thirty days after the written request is received.
A provider that receives a written request to examine the records must, no later than ten days after receiving it, make the records available during regular business hours, tell the patient the records do not exist or cannot be found, name the provider that maintains them if known, or explain a delay and give a date not later than twenty-one days after the request.
Mental health medical records may be withheld if a treating physician, psychologist or mental health practitioner determines in professional opinion that release would not be in the best interest of the patient, unless a court order requires release.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app handles health records.