Can a patient be refused medical records?

In New York State, a doctor can not refuse to provide medical records. The doctor is allowed to charge up to 75 cents per page for same. Failure to comply is reportable to the board of medicine. Contact your state's board of medicine to determine what the laws are in your state.

A little more...Under federal law (specifically HIPAA), there are very few legals reason for a doctor to refuse releasing your own medical records to you, with the main exception being any psychotherapy notes as made during the course of licensed psychotherapy (you can't just say it's psyche notes). Federal Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) handles the initial complaint. You can file a HIPAA complaint on the web at their site. And eventually the complaint may wind up at the OCR -- Office of Civil Rights, which handles enforcement.

HIPAA does not specify a rate per page, but says that, if the records are to be released to YOU, the doctor may assess a charge to offset expenses, but it can't be so high as to provide a barrier to you obtaining your records. Your doctor must release records to another doctor handling your health care at no cost to you.