Rite Aid Pharmacy Records Class Action Settlement
Pharmacy giant Rite Aid has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit stemming over allegations that the company charges an unreasonable amount of money to obtain customers’ personal pharmacy records.
Plaintiffs Anthony Lasseter and Amber Osborne filed the Rite Aid class action lawsuit after having to pay an allegedly arbitrary “flat-fee” price to get a printed copy of their records. Lasseter claims he was charged $50 for a one-page document that included his pharmaceutical history. Likewise, Osborne states she was charged $85 for a single-page pharmacy record document.
The Rite Aid pharmacy records class action lawsuit alleges that these “fixed fee” charges are in no way rational to the actual cost of Rite Aid processing a request for records. Lasseter and Osborne further claim that Rite Aid violated federal law for charging a flat fee.
According to the Rite Aid records class action lawsuit, there are limits to how much pharmacies and healthcare providers can charge customers for access to their own records.
Effective July 1, 2010, federal law allows a search and retrieval fee of $25.88, a certification fee of $9.70 and a copying costs for records (in paper) of $0.97/per pages 1-20, $0.83/per pages 21-100, and $0.66 for pages over 100.
The Rite Aid pharmacy class action settlement claims that by Rite Aid charging a flat, fixed-fee of either $50 or $85 it far exceeds any actual costs the retail pharmacy may have incurred.
Rite Aid is one of the largest retail pharmacy chains in the U.S. with 4,800 stores in 31 states. While Rite Aid agreed to settle the pharmacy records class action lawsuit in order to avoid further costs of litigation, they deny any wrongdoing.
Who’s Eligible
Rite Aid class action lawsuit settlement Class Members include Rite Aid customers who paid either a $50 or $85 fixed records charge for pharmacy records after Jan. 1, 2005.
Potential Award
$15-$25 Rite Aid Gift Card.
Rite Aid class action settlement Class Members who submit a valid Claim Form with receive a $15 Rite Aid gift card for each $50 pharmacy records fee they paid, and a $25 Rite Aid gift card for each $85 pharmacy records fee paid.
Proof of Purchase
Rite Aid settlement Class Members must file a Claim Form in order to receive compensation.
Potential Class Members who need to check to see if they paid either $50 or $85 to obtain pharmacy records after Jan. 1, 2005 can fill out the information on this form. Rite Aid will research their database on your behalf to see if any business records exist under your name.
Claim Form
Claim Form Deadline
03/07/2016
Filed under: General Problems
I don’t know…I kind of agree that Rite Aid and the rest of the chain pharmacy leviathans are not health care providers. In my state of California, for many years the chain drug stores, through their lobbying efforts, had retail pharmacists classified as Mercantile Clerks. That was changed just a few short years ago and we are classified as Health Care Providers. Not withstanding, when one considers the way that these chain pharmacy businesses are run and their emphasis on quantity over quality, they’re all just another group of big box, mass retailers who happen to specialize in legal drug dealing as opposed to groceries, household goods, home and garden, musical instruments, etc. To recognize them as a legitimate health care provision service is a stretch in my book.
I wonder if this explains the merger?
If I remember correctly, Rite Aid argued that they were not a health care provider and they are dealing with customer – not patients – so the charge limitations did not apply to them. I guess that this court ruling did not agree with their argument about customers or patients and they are – are not – a health care provider …