Medical Records Access Fairness Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Medical Records Access Fairness Act of 2026 generally requires a health-care provider to give an individual a copy of the person's protected health information, or a summary or explanation, without charge. At the individual's express request, the free access may also be provided to a health-care provider or family caregiver.
A fee remains permissible when the person requests a duplicate of information already supplied in the same calendar year. A provider may also charge for a nonelectronic copy when the same information has already been made available to that person at no cost through the provider's online portal. The bill does not require a free copy for the individual's attorney.
When an individual expressly asks one provider to transmit records to another provider, the sender may use any form and format readily usable by the recipient. HHS must issue or amend implementing regulations within six months. The new rules apply to record requests made at least 180 days after enactment.
Who Benefits and How
Patients benefit from free initial access to their medical records, summaries, or explanations. Family caregivers and receiving health-care providers benefit when a patient expressly requests direct access or transmission. Patients without convenient portal access avoid fees for an initial nonelectronic copy. Care coordination may improve when records can be sent in a format the receiving provider can readily use.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Health-care providers and medical-records departments lose fee revenue on covered requests and must change access, billing, identity-verification, and transmission workflows. Health-information vendors must distinguish free initial requests from chargeable duplicates and portal-available paper requests. HHS privacy-rule staff must promulgate regulations within six months. Patients must expressly request caregiver or provider access, and attorney copies remain outside the free-copy requirement.
Key Provisions
- Requires free initial access to protected health information, summaries, or explanations.
- Extends requested access to a health-care provider or family caregiver.
- Allows a fee for a same-year duplicate previously supplied to the individual.
- Allows a fee for nonelectronic information already available free on the provider's portal.
- Permits provider-to-provider transmission in any readily usable format.
- Excludes attorney copies from the mandatory free-access rule.
- Directs HHS regulations within six months.
- Applies the new access rule to requests made 180 days after enactment.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires health-care providers to give individuals a copy, summary, or explanation of their protected health information without charge except for same-year duplicates or nonelectronic copies already available free through the provider's portal.
Key Policy Areas
Medical Records, Patient Rights, Health Information Privacy, Provider Fees, Health Information Technology
Primary Purpose
Requires health-care providers to give individuals a copy, summary, or explanation of their protected health information without charge except for same-year duplicates or nonelectronic copies already available free through the provider's portal.
Policy Domains
Section 2 free access to protected health information
Identified Gains
- Patients requesting initial medical records
- Family caregivers designated by patients
- Health-care providers receiving patient-directed records
- Patients without convenient portal access
- Care-coordination programs using transferred records
Identified Costs
- Health-care providers fulfilling record requests
- Medical-records department staff
- Health-information technology vendors
- HHS health-privacy rulemaking staff
- Provider billing officers
- Patients seeking free attorney copies
Sponsors
Bill Foster
D-IL | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Mr. Foster (for himself and Mrs. Beatty) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Health-care providers fulfilling record requests, Health-information technology vendors, Medical-records department staff
Patients requesting initial medical records, Patients without convenient portal access
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "hhs"
- → Department of Health and Human Services issuing regulations
- "provider"
- → Health-care provider holding or transmitting the information
- "caregiver"
- → Family caregiver expressly designated by the patient
- "individual"
- → Patient requesting protected health information
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
An initial copy, summary, or explanation of an individual's protected health information provided without charge to the individual or an expressly requested provider or family caregiver.
A copy, summary, or explanation previously supplied to the individual in the same calendar year.
A nonelectronic copy of information already made available to the individual at no cost through the provider's online portal.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology