Question: Can occupational therapists charge a fee for the release of client records?
Answer: Health Information Custodians (HIC) may charge a reasonable fee when providing a copy of the client's personal health information record. There is no specific fee outlined in legislation. However, the fee charged must not exceed reasonable cost recovery.
If an occupational therapist chooses to charge a fee, the occupational therapist must provide the client with an estimate of the cost before providing the record.
The Standards for Record Keeping - Standard 5 – Privacy and Access note:
An occupational therapist may:
5.11.1 Refuse to provide copies from a record until they are paid a reasonable fee unless there is a risk of harm to the client if the information is not released;
You can find out more information from the Information Privacy Commissioner of Ontario's (IPC) resource: Frequently Asked Questions – Personal Health Information Protection Act (2015).
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