Firm News

   On March 18, 2010, the Supreme Court of Illinois, in Solon v. Midwest Medical Records Association, Inc., issued a ruling that it is reasonable for health care facilities, including nursing homes, to charge the maximum handling fee in processing requests for copies of medical records as provided in 735 ILCS 5/8-2001 and 735 ILCS 5/8-2003, without accounting for the actual costs associated with processing each request.  
 
   The plaintiffs in Solon filed a four-count class action lawsuit in the circuit court of Cook County against defendant MMRA, a management company that handles requests for the retrieval and copying of patient medical records.  Plaintiffs claimed that MMRA's practice of consistently charging the maximum handling charge as provided by 735 ILCS 5/8-2001 and 2003 without determining the actual costs associated with handling each request constituted a violation of the same statutes because the language of the statutes only allows health care providers to charge a fee "not to exceed a $20 handling charge for processing the request."  The Plaintiffs argued that this language only provides a cap to how much a health care provider can charge and does not constitute a per se reasonable charge.  The Court, however, disagreed and held that the language did create a per se reasonable charge.  In so ruling, the Court relied on legislative history indicating that the legislature, in creating the maximum figure, thought it necessary to specifically define what was reasonable in order to avoid arbitrary and unreasonable charges to patients.
 
   For copies of Solon v. Midwest Medical Records Association, Inc., 2010 WL 966395 (Ill. Mar 18, 2010) (NO. 107719), please e-mail William Ragen at William.Ragen@arandpartners.com.