Your Own Medical Records

In Pennsylvania, a patient or their designee, including their attorney, has the right of access to the patient's medical charts and records and to obtain photocopies of them, without a subpoena duces tecum, for the patient's own use.

• §42 Pa.C.S. 6155

• A health care provider or facility may not charge the patient or designee more than the amounts the subpoena of records section sets.
• A patient whose records are copied and delivered in a court case, anyone acting for them, and the facility holding the records may ask the court for a protective order limiting access to and use of the copies.
• The section does not by itself require an insurer to pay for records needed to support a claim, apart from workers' compensation, motor vehicle financial responsibility, or a contract that says so.

• §42 Pa.C.S. 6155

The fee amounts themselves are set in the subpoena of records section and are not reproduced here. Whether a fee or a refusal was proper is a question for a court and for a licensed Pennsylvania attorney.

• §42 Pa.C.S. 6155