Sponsors (2)
The bill increases patient access to and usability of their medical records—improving care coordination and lowering direct costs for many patients—while shifting administrative, IT, and compliance burdens (and potential downstream costs) onto providers and leaving a gap for attorney access.
Patients—especially those with chronic conditions, parents/families, and uninsured individuals—can obtain copies and plain‑language summaries of their medical records at no cost, reducing financial barriers to managing care, filing appeals, or pursuing insurance claims.
Patients and receiving providers (e.g., hospitals, health systems) can have protected health information transmitted in a readily usable format, improving care coordination and making medical transfers and continuity of care easier.
Hospitals and other providers will incur increased administrative and IT/process costs and short‑term implementation workload to comply with no‑fee and format/transmission requirements, which could strain operations or lead to cost‑shifting elsewhere.
Patients who need legal help may face higher difficulty or cost sharing records with attorneys because the no‑cost rule excludes attorneys, potentially limiting access to legal advocacy.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires providers to give individuals (and requested providers/caregivers) free copies or summaries of their PHI, with two narrow exceptions, and allows transmission in any readily usable format requested.
Introduced March 4, 2026 by Bill Foster · Last progress March 4, 2026
Requires health care providers to give patients (and, if requested, the patient’s health care provider or family caregiver) copies or clear summaries/explanations of their protected health information at no charge, with only two narrow exceptions for duplicate requests and certain non‑electronic copies already made free online. Providers must be able to transmit records to another provider in the format the patient requests. Attorneys are excluded from the no‑cost requirement. The Department of Health and Human Services must issue implementing regulations within six months, and the rule will apply to access requests made 180 days after enactment.