Trial lawyers oppose Connecticut bill to raise medical-record fees, argue it burdens patients

Peter Dreyer, president-elect of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, testified in opposition to Senate Bill 1508, saying the bill would "unfairly increase cost for patients seeking access to their own medical records" and would disproportionately burden the elderly, low-income and less-educated patients.

Dreyer said that when an attorney requests a patient's records, the patient ultimately pays for them through reimbursement or deduction from recovery, and that many clients cannot navigate portals or forms to obtain records themselves. "Patients should not be penalized for how they obtain their medical records whether they request them personally or through an attorney," he said.

Dreyer cited the federal allowance that providers may charge $6.50 or their actual documented costs for electronic records and noted that many states cap electronic-record fees at or below $50 (he cited New Hampshire, Nevada and New Jersey as examples). He argued the bill's proposed fees would make Connecticut an outlier and create barriers to justice for patients pursuing malpractice or other claims.

"If producing records is so expensive, where's the itemized invoice?" Dreyer asked. He urged the committee to oppose SB 1508 and to protect patient access to records at reasonable cost. Committee members acknowledged the testimony and said they would continue to discuss fee structures; no committee vote on SB 1508 was recorded at the hearing.