Practice operations · California access requests · reviewed 28 August 2026
Client records request response log
A deadline-and-decision record for responding to a client’s request to inspect or copy their own health record.
Use the resource →Use when a client or authorized representative asks to inspect or obtain their health record. Start a different workflow if what arrived is a subpoena, court order, or third-party demand.
This does not decide authorization, privilege, withholding, or whether a summary should replace access. Those can require legal and clinical judgment.
Recheck the source links before relying on an older saved copy. Entries stay in this open page. Copy or print the working copy before leaving.
Working resource
Make the invisible facts visible.
Review point 01
Classify what arrived
Record whether this is the client’s access request, an authorized-representative request, a subpoena, a court order, or something else. The deadlines and duties are not interchangeable.
Review point 02
Preserve the request and receipt date
Keep the written request and record when it arrived. California’s inspection and copy periods run from receipt.
Review point 03
Calendar inspection and copy deadlines separately
Section 123110 permits inspection within five working days and requires copies within 15 days. Record both even if only one is currently requested.
Review point 04
Record the response path
Choose and document inspection, copies, a section 123130 summary, or a carefully reviewed mental-health-record exception. Do not use this log as authority for the choice.
Review point 05
Record fees before collecting them
Section 123110 caps ordinary paper-copy charges at 25 cents per page, plus reasonable clerical costs. Record the page count and basis.
Review point 06
Close the loop
Record what was provided, how, to whom, and when; preserve any identity or authority verification and the clinical or legal basis for a non-routine response.
Private working copy
Carry the review into your own next action.
Your entries remain only in this open page. They are not saved, uploaded, transmitted, or placed in the URL. Use a non-identifying reference—not a client name.
Your working copy
Controlling material
Read the authority, not merely the worksheet.
Educational information only; not legal, clinical, tax, billing, or regulatory advice. A resource cannot resolve facts it was not given or authority that changed after the review date.
