Class Action: Express Scripts Charges ‘Excessive, Arbitrary, Unreasonable’ Fees for Attorney-Requested Patient Medical Records

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Express Scripts, Inc. is staring down a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges the company charges “exorbitant and unlawful” fees for attorneys and their injured clients to access health records.

According to the lawsuit, Express Scripts “targets” with its alleged practice law firms that request health records on the authority of injured Express Scripts customers. Proposed class members, the lawsuit says, were charged a flat fee of either $75 or $90 for “data processing” after requesting and then receiving a copy of their Express Scripts pharmacy records via their lawyers. Express Scripts, for its part, makes no attempt to provide any accounting of the true costs of producing such records, the case claims.

From the suit:

“Express Scripts refuses to comply with Pennsylvania law claiming it is not a health care provider, but instead a ‘pharmacy benefit management company.’ Express Scripts claims that its fee of either $75.00 or $90.00 is for ‘processing’ and not for shipping.

However, even Express Scripts’ corporate representative confirms that no such accounting is done in the company to keep track of overhead costs for the processing of such records. Hence, whether [the plaintiff’s] records are healthcare records or not is immaterial under Pennsylvania law, as [the plaintiff’s] sole claim here is that Express Scripts breached its express and implied contracts with [the plaintiff] and members of the class.”