ChartSwap Lawsuit Alleges Florida Hospitals Overcharged for Medical Records

A new class action lawsuit filed in May alleges that three Florida hospitals – HCA Florida South Tampa Hospital, HCA Florida Largo Hospital, and Bayfront Health St. Petersburg – teamed up with a medical records distributor, ChartSwap, to overcharge patients for copies of their medical information.

The lawsuit, brought by Jenna Piskothy, Darryl Cross, and Lauren Segedin, accuses the defendants of violating Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. This law sets clear limits on how much hospitals and record distributors can charge patients for accessing their medical records.

Florida Law and the "Exclusive Charge" for Medical Records

The lawsuit details Florida's "exclusive charge" for patient medical records. This law restricts fees to $1 per page for paper copies, $2 total for non-paper records, and an additional potential $1 for each year of records requested. Importantly, the law states that "a patient cannot be required to pay more than the exclusive charge," and access to records cannot be contingent upon paying extra.

“A patient or a patient's representative cannot be required to pay more than the exclusive charge, and access to the records cannot be conditioned on the payment of any amount in excess of the exclusive charge,” it states.

However, Piskothy, Cross, and Segedin allege that when they attempted to access their health records, they were overcharged by an average of $23.33 each, significantly exceeding the legal limits outlined in the Florida law.

Hospitals Accused of Using ChartSwap to Inflate Medical Record Fees

The lawsuit alleges that the three hospitals used the software provided by third-party ChartSwap to manage distribution of all its patient records, and, while it was ChartSwap that charged the patients the fees, the hospitals all approved of ChartSwap’s methods by hiring it. 

They argue that by having a third-party respond to requests for records, a hospital can’t forgo its legal responsibility under the law to limit that amount that can be charged to patients. The law, in fact, expressly provides that "these charges shall apply to all records furnished, whether directly from the facility or from a copy service providing these services on behalf of the facility,” the lawsuit quotes.

Similar Cases Involving Third-Party Medical Record Providers

With the increase in the electronic storage of medical records, there has also been a rise in third-party software providers that manage these records for hospitals. While this approach can streamline recordkeeping for busy hospitals and ensure compliance with regulations like HIPAA, it can also introduce new challenges. Data privacy breaches, hacking incidents, and hidden fees are all potential downsides.

In May 2024, a similar lawsuit in West Virginia against MRO Corp.,Ciox Health, and Medi-Copy Services was settled after they were accused of overcharging patients for accessing medical records. Notably, Ciox Health has a history of facing legal action for similar practices, having settled a class action lawsuit for $1.85 million in 2022. MRO also faced a separate lawsuit in 2020 over the same issue.

In the ChartSwap class action lawsuit, Piskothy, Cross, and Segedin want to represent all Florida patients affected by ChartSwap’s alleged overcharges and they are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, fees, damages, and interest.

Case Details

• Lawsuit: Piskothy et al. v ChartSwap, LLC et al
• Case Number: 8:24-cv-01318-JLB-AAS
• Court: U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

Plaintiffs' Attorneys

• Scott R. Jeeves (The Jeeves Law Group, P.A.)
• Daniel Clark (Clark & Martino, P.A.)
• David M. Caldevilla (de la Parte, Gilbert, Mcnamara & Caldevilla, P.A.)