How to request your medical records in California
You have a federal right to a copy of your own medical records, in California and everywhere else. Below is how that right works, what California adds on top of it, and a free letter you can fill out and send.
Your federal right (applies in every state)
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR 164.524), you can get a copy of your own medical records without giving a reason. A provider must act on your request within 30 days, can take one 30-day extension only with written notice, and can charge only a reasonable, cost-based fee for copying and postage.
What California adds
- Response time
- You may inspect records within 5 working days of a written request; copies must be provided within 15 days of the request.
- Copy fees
- A provider may charge no more than $0.25 per page ($0.50 per page for copies made from microfilm), plus reasonable clerical costs not exceeding the actual cost of preparing the records. There is no charge to simply inspect your records.
- Worth knowing
- Records are provided free of charge when you need them to support a claim or appeal for a public benefit program such as Social Security or Medi-Cal.
- The law
- Cal. Health & Safety Code §§ 123100–123149.5 (Patient Access to Health Records Act); copy fee in § 123110
When California law and the federal HIPAA rule differ, the one that gives you more access — faster turnaround, lower fee — is the one that applies. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm specifics with your provider's records office.
Your California records-request letter
Requesting records in California — common questions
- How do I request my medical records in California?
- Under your federal right of access (HIPAA, 45 CFR § 164.524), you can get a copy of your own records from any provider in California. Send a written request — the free letter on this page works — to the provider's Health Information Management or Release of Information office, or use their patient portal if they have one.
- How long does a provider in California have to send my records?
- You may inspect records within 5 working days of a written request; copies must be provided within 15 days of the request. Either way, HIPAA's right of access (45 CFR § 164.524) requires them to act within 30 days, with one possible 30-day extension on written notice.
- How much can a provider in California charge for copies of my records?
- A provider may charge no more than $0.25 per page ($0.50 per page for copies made from microfilm), plus reasonable clerical costs not exceeding the actual cost of preparing the records. There is no charge to simply inspect your records. HIPAA separately caps any fee at a reasonable, cost-based charge for the labor of copying and the postage — whichever protects you more applies.
- Is this records-request letter free?
- Yes. The generator builds a HIPAA records-request letter you can download and print for free. Nothing you type is saved or sent to anyone but you.
Records rules in another state?
What we will never do with your records
This generator runs without an account, and KeptWell itself makes the same promises to every family, regardless of plan or price.
- We won't sell your data.
- Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to insurers, not to pharma, not to anyone, in any form, ever.
- We won't train AI models on your records.
- Anthropic (whose Claude model powers KeptWell) is contractually prohibited from training on anything we send them, under a signed Business Associate Agreement.
- We won't lock you in.
- You can export everything in your circle as a ZIP at any time. Cancellation is one click.
Once your California records arrive, give them a home.
They usually come back as a stack of PDFs or a disc. Upload them to KeptWell and it reads each one, organizes everything by type and date, and lets your whole family ask questions about it. The medical record organizer that does the organizing. Free today.
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More on the product: how it works, the medical record organizer, pricing, and what we do with your data.