Your Own Medical Records
ORC 3701.74 — the written request, and the sixty day date on it
A patient, a patient's personal representative or an authorized person may ask to examine or to get a copy of a medical record. The request is written and signed, and it carries a date that has to be not more than one year before it is submitted. A request signed more than a year earlier is not a request that meets the section.
Who handles this in Ohio: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
Within a reasonable time after receiving a request that meets the requirements and contains enough information to identify the record, the provider holding the record shall permit the patient to examine it during regular business hours without charge, or, on request, shall provide a copy.
Looking at it is free. A copy is the part that has a price. The section separates the two, and the separation is worth knowing before a fee quote arrives. Examination during regular business hours is without charge. Copies are where section 3701.741 comes in, which sets a ceiling on what a provider may charge and distinguishes a request from the patient or their personal representative from a request coming from somebody else.
| The request | What the section provides |
|---|---|
| The requestForm | What the section providesWritten, signed, dated not more than one year before it is submitted |
| The requestWho may make it | What the section providesThe patient, a personal representative, or an authorized person |
| The requestTiming | What the section providesWithin a reasonable time after a conforming request |
| The requestExamining the record | What the section providesDuring regular business hours, without charge |
| The requestCopies | What the section providesA ceiling set by ORC 3701.741 |
Reasonable time is the standard the Ohio section uses, and it is not a fixed number of days. A separate federal privacy rule governs the same subject on its own timetable, and where both apply a provider is answering to both. This page states what the Ohio section says.
The fee figures in 3701.741 are adjusted and are not printed here, so a current schedule has to come from the section itself. Which records count as the medical record, the position of records held by a provider who has closed or died, mental health records, and the federal privacy rule's separate timetable and its own right of access are not covered on this page. A provider's refusal is handled through that provider's complaint process, through the board that licenses them, and through the federal regulator for the privacy rule. Whether a particular record has to be produced is a question for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (2)
- ORC 3701.74 — A patient's request to examine or copy a medical record
- ORC 3701.741 — The ceiling on what a copy of a medical record may cost
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.