Thornburg v. Superior Court (Bactes Imaging Solutions Inc.), CA 4th, No. D045247, March 29, 2006
The California Court of Appeal, 4th District of California, Div. 1 has ruled on a case involving a company that contracts with a healthcare provider to provide copies of medical records in response to a medical authorization.
The plaintiff, Patience Thornburg, presented El Centro Regional Medical Center with an authorization to obtain medical records. The Medical Center had contracted with Bactes Imaging Solutions, Inc., a copy service to respond to all such requests. Bactes responded to the plaintiff’s request by sending the records and a bill exceeding the 10 cent per page limit in Evidence Code § 1158.
The trail court sustained a demurrer to the plaintiff’s complaint after Bactes successfully argued it was not an agent of the Medical Center, and hence was under no per page fee limitation.
The Court of Appeal concluded that the contract between the Medical Center and Bactes for responding to patient’s requests for records did constitute an agency relationship. Under the agreement, once the Medical Center receives an authorization request, they make the records available exclusively to Bactes, who is then responsible for making copies, delivering them, and billing the requesting party. The agreement obligates Bactes to assume the hospital’s duties under the statute and in so meeting that obligation Bactes pursued its own financial interests. These two factors constitute an agency relationship.
Therefore, the “reasonable cost” limitation of 10 cents per page applies to both the Medical Center and to Bactes, the copy service when an authorization is presented to the hospital. This would include a patient, an attorney, or his or her representative, such as a registered professional photocopier.
A writ was issued, directing the trial court to vacate its order sustaining the Bactes demurrer and to enter a new order consistent with the opinion.
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