GA Code § 31-33-3 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 31 - Health|Chapter 33 - Health Records|§ 31-33-3. Costs of Copying and Mailing; Patient's Rights as to Records; Applicability to Psychiatric, Psychological, and Other Mental Health Records

  The party requesting the patient's records shall be responsible to the provider for the costs of copying and mailing the patient's record. A charge of up to $20.00 may be collected for search, retrieval, and other direct administrative costs related to compliance with the request under this chapter. A fee for certifying the medical records may also be charged not to exceed $7.50 for each record certified. The actual cost of postage incurred in mailing the requested records may also be charged. In addition, copying costs for a record which is in paper form shall not exceed $.75 per page for the first 20 pages of the patient's records which are copied; $.65 per page for pages 21 through 100; and $.50 for each page copied in excess of 100 pages. All of the fees allowed by this Code section may be adjusted annually in accordance with the medical component of the consumer price index. The Department of Community Health shall be responsible for calculating this annual adjustment, which will become effective on July 1 of each year. To the extent the request for medical records includes portions of records which are not in paper form, including but not limited to radiology films, models, or fetal monitoring strips, the provider shall be entitled to recover the full reasonable cost of such reproduction. Payment of such costs may be required by the provider prior to the records being furnished. This subsection shall not apply to records requested in order to make or complete an application for a disability benefits program.   The rights granted to a patient or other person under this chapter are in addition to any other rights such patient or person may have relating to access to a patient's records; however, nothing in this chapter shall be construed as granting to a patient or person any right of ownership in the records, as such records are owned by and are the property of the provider.   This Code section shall apply to psychiatric, psychological, and other mental health records of a patient.     (Code 1981, §31-32-3, enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 1680, § 1; Code 1981, §31-33-3, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 31; Ga. L. 2001, p. 1157, § 2; Ga. L. 2015, p. 949, § 1/HB 385; Ga. L. 2016, p. 549, § 1/HB 910.)   Law reviews.   - For article, "Trial Practice and Procedure," see 53 Mercer L. Rev. 475 (2001). For survey article on workers' compensation law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 433 (2008).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS    Companies providing photocopying services were subject to the provision requiring hospitals to furnish patients' records for the "reasonable costs of copying and mailing." Cotton v. Med-Cor Health Info. Solutions, Inc., 221 Ga. App. 609, 472 S.E.2d 92 (1996).   Workers' Compensation Board regulated photocopying charges.    - Because the Georgia Workers' Compensation Board, and not the Health Records Act, O.C.G.A. § 31-33-3, regulated the medical photocopying charges in workers' compensation proceedings, the trial court properly dismissed a declaratory judgment complaint filed by a photocopier, which sought guidance regarding the appropriate fee structure for medical photocopying services in workers' compensation proceedings, for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Smart Document Solutions, LLC v. Hall, 290 Ga. App. 483, 659 S.E.2d 838 (2008).    Cited in Best Jewelry Mfg. Co. v. Reed Elsevier Inc., 334 Ga. App. 826, 780 S.E.2d 689 (2015), cert. denied, No. S16C0502, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 286 (Ga. 2016).