Sponsors (2)
The bill expands free and more usable access to patients' medical records—improving patient rights, care coordination, and lowering out‑of‑pocket barriers—while imposing added administrative and implementation costs on providers and leaving a gap for legal access via attorneys.
Patients (including those with chronic conditions, parents/families, and uninsured individuals) can obtain copies or plain‑language summaries of their medical records at no cost, increasing their ability to access, review, and use their health information.
Patients (particularly those with complex needs) and health systems can have protected health information transmitted in a readily usable format to other providers, making care coordination, transfers, and continuity of care easier and safer.
Individuals (patients with chronic conditions and uninsured people) face lower financial barriers to obtaining records, which can help them manage care, pursue insurance or benefit appeals, and avoid extra out‑of‑pocket costs.
Hospitals, providers, and their staff may incur increased administrative costs and workload from supplying free records, which could pressure operating budgets or lead to cost‑shifting elsewhere in the health system.
Excluding attorneys from the no‑cost rule may make it harder or more expensive for patients to share records with legal counsel, complicating legal actions or appeals that rely on timely access to records.
Providers will likely need to change record‑keeping, IT, and transmission processes to comply with format and no‑fee requirements, creating short‑term implementation workload and potential disruption for health‑system staff.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires providers to give individuals (and, if requested, their provider or family caregiver) copies or summaries of PHI at no cost in most cases and to transmit records in the patient's requested usable format, with two narrow fee exceptions.
Requires health care providers to give individuals (and, if requested, that individual’s health care provider or family caregiver) copies or clear summaries/explanations of the individual’s protected health information at no cost in most cases. It allows individuals to request that records be transmitted to another provider in any readily usable format and excludes attorneys from the free‑copy requirement. HHS must issue implementing regulations within six months and the rule applies to access requests made 180 days after enactment.
Official title: To amend the HITECH Act to allow an individual to obtain a copy of such individual's protected health information at no cost unless certain circumstances apply, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 4, 2026 by Bill Foster · Last progress March 4, 2026