Can an organisation charge an individual a fee for providing access to the....

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Question: Can an organisation charge an individual a fee for providing access to the individual’s medical records and how much should that fee be?

Answer: Under the new private sector provisions, an organisation can charge for providing access to medical records. The fees which an organisation can charge for providing access must not be excessive and must not apply to the mere lodgement of a request for access. National Privacy Principle (NPP) 6.4 aims to prevent organisations from using excessive charges to discourage individuals from making requests for access to their medical records. See NPP 6.4.

If an organisation incurs substantial costs in meeting a request for access, then the organisation could charge a reasonable fee to meet the administrative costs involved. For example, an organisation could recover some of the costs of photocopying or of the staff time involved. For more information on charging for access to medical records, see Guidelines on Privacy in the Private Health Sector and, on charging for access generally, see Information Sheet 4.