CIOX Health Medical Records Provider Trying to Circumvent HIPAA Rules for Fees

NOTICE & WARNING ABOUT MEDICAL RECORDS REQUESTS

The major medical records copy service known as CIOX Health is attempting to avoid following the federal law which is referred to as the Hi Tech law. CIOX wants to avoid the recent Hi Tech federal law that states they are not allowed to charge per page fees for medical records if the medical records are in electronic form.

• The default charge for sending electronic medical records is generally only 6.50.
• CIOX wants to charge big dollars for these records and wants to avoid the default charge of 6.50.
• CIOX is proposing to do that by getting you to agree on their website to allow them to charge big dollars.

Do not buy into this scheme. Do not agree to sign any statements about fees for medical records. Instead, you have a legal right to be charged the very low Hi Tech fees. Tell them you only want to request records pursuant to Hi Tech law 45 C.F.R. 164.524(c)(4), and you want those records in electronic format only, charging only a cost-based fee for producing the electronic copy.

Note that if the records only exist in paper format and not electronic, tell them to contact you immediately, because in paper format they are allowed to charge a lot of money and you are entitled to know what that charge is in advance.

Under your signatures, and using the forms your attorney provides to you, let your attorney’s office send out requests for medical records by informing us of all the names of your physicians, hospital, therapists as soon as possible.

However, there are some treating physicians who will give you a copy of your records for free while you are in their office for each visit with the doctor. Always make an attempt to get your records while you are in the doctor’s office, clinic, or even hospital.

Here is an excerpt of the language used in the CIOX Health terms and conditions you must agree to before using your account:

1. CLIENT agrees to pay CIOX’s fees for service in addition to any and all fees incurred in obtaining the requested medical records from a healthcare provider, including but not limited to:  per page copy fees, duplication fees, reproduction fees, clerical labor, witness fees, research fees, handling fees, base fees, shipping fees, electronic delivery fees, certification fees, rush delivery fees, electronic data storage fees, no record found fees, applicable taxes, and any other charges.
2. Payment.  By signing up for a user account with CIOX for use of the Software and services, CLIENT agrees to pay CIOX any applicable fees such as but not limited to, per page copy fees, duplication fees, reproduction fees, clerical labor, witness fees, research fees, handling fees, base fees, shipping fees, electronic delivery fees, certification fees, rush delivery fees, electronic data storage fees, no records found fee, applicable taxes, and any other charges.  CLIENT will be invoiced on or about the 5^th of every month, invoices will be for records received and all provider fees will be due and payable by CLIENT no later than fifteen (15) days after invoicing.  All records remain the property of CIOX until paid in full.  Payment may be satisfied by either check or credit card only.  To the extent that any account becomes past due or the form of payment maintained on behalf of that account is denied when charged for any payment toward the fees that become due, CIOX will notify CLIENT that CLIENT’s account is past due and will then attempt, fifteen days later, to contact CLIENT or use the form of payment CLIENT has stored with CLIENT’s account. Any amount not paid when due will be charged finance charges equal to one and one-half percent (1.5%) per month or the highest rate permitted by applicable law, whichever is less, determined and compounded daily from the date due until the date paid.  CIOX reserves the right to suspend the CLIENT’s accounts for failure to make payments as owed and due on their account with CIOX, in which case no access to such an account would be provided to the CLIENT of their users. To the extent that a CLIENT user account remains past due for more than sixty (60) consecutive days, the parties hereto understand and agree that CIOX may, in its sole discretion and without notice to the CLIENT who created or maintains the account, cancel the account and delete any stored information, including documents or other information or content, maintained by CIOX or on CIOX’s servers in association with that user account. Any such cancellation and/or deletion of information or content maintained by CIOX will in no manner constitute a waiver of CIOX’s right to all past due amounts as well as any and all remaining quarterly payments that CLIENT owes toward satisfaction of payment as set forth in this Agreement.
3. Pricing Structure.  I hereby acknowledge that this Agreement is solely between CIOX Health, LLC and CLIENT for medical record retrieval, storage and delivery.  CLIENT acknowledges and agrees to pay the fees charged by CIOX in consideration for retrieval, storage and delivery of the requested medical records: per page copy fees, duplication fees, reproduction fees, clerical labor, witness fees, research fees, handling fees, base fees, shipping fees, electronic delivery fees, certification fees, rush delivery fees, electronic data storage fees, no record found fees, applicable taxes, and any other charges.  Records will automatically delete from the server after the purchased time expires.  CLIENT understands and agrees that the electronic data storage fees charged in relation to your account with CIOX are fees agreed to in contract for storing electronic medical records and are not fees regulated or covered by any applicable state law, including but not limited to North Carolina General Statutes §44-49.