Four patients of different Montana hospitals filed a lawsuit this month alleging medical records company Ciox Health overcharged them for copies of their records, according to the Independent Record.
In Montana, the state limits the amount a patient can be charged for a copy of their record to $0.50 per page for photocopies and a maximum of $15 for searching and handling the file. The four patients claim Ciox Health did not include information about clerical time that went into putting the record together when they were billed.
One patient, Briana Frasier, was billed $902 by Ciox Health in October 2019. The bill included a $15 "basic fee," a $0.50 a page fee and a $56.80 shipping fee. However, Ms. Frasier said her records were delivered electronically.
The other patients say they were charged between $19 and $30, with the bills including a per-page fee even though they were delivered electronically. Patients claim the bills also came with a $2 "electronic data archive fee."
The four patients are seeking to turn their lawsuits into a class-action suit, which could possibly include tens of thousands of patients, reports the Independent Record.
Along with Ciox Health, five hospitals are listed in the lawsuit: St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings, Mont., Bozeman (Mont.) Deaconess Health Services, Kalispell (Mont.) Regional Healthcare Foundation, St. James Healthcare in Butte, Mont., and Community Medical Center in Missoula, Mont.
Ciox Health did not immediately respond to comment from the Independent Record.