The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) recently issued a reminder that under California law, health care providers may not charge patients a fee for providing information or filling out forms that support a claim or appeal regarding eligibility for a public benefit program, including, but not limited to: Medi-Cal, In-Home Supportive Services and Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.   

Health care providers may, however, charge patients, including Medi-Cal enrollees, up to 25 cents per page for paper copies of patient records, plus a reasonable clerical fee. Patients can also be charged up to 50 cents per page for records copied from microfilm. For copies of diagnostic films, such as x-rays, MRIs, CT and PET scans, health care providers can charge a reasonable fee, not to exceed the actual costs incurred. 

For more information see the DHCS December 2024 General Medicine Bulletin.