HB 5222 Summary

• Waives all fees for veterans, their attorneys, or authorized representatives requesting medical records necessary to support a Veterans Affairs claim or appeal under 38 USC 101-8528.

• Limits veterans to one free set of medical records per provider; additional requests are subject to standard fee provisions.

• Maintains existing fee structure for other patients: $20 initial fee plus per-page charges ($1 for pages 1-20, $0.50 for pages 21-50, $0.20 for pages 51+) plus actual costs for non-paper formats and retrieval of records 7+ years old.

• Clarifies that medically indigent individuals also receive fee waivers and are limited to one free set of copies per provider.

• Requires the Department of Health and Human Services to adjust fees annually beginning April 1, 2006, based on cumulative changes in the Detroit Consumer Price Index.