A health care provider may charge a reasonable fee to cover the costs incurred in searching, handling, copying, and mailing medical records to the patient or the patient’s designated representative. The maximum fee for each request shall be seventy-five cents (75¢) per page for the first 25 pages, fifty cents (50¢) per page for pages 26 through 100, and twenty-five cents (25¢) for each page in excess of 100 pages, provided that the health care provider may impose a minimum fee of up to ten dollars ($10.00), inclusive of copying costs. If requested by the patient or the patient’s designated representative, nothing herein shall limit a reasonable professional fee charged by a physician for the review and preparation of a narrative summary of the patient’s medical record. Charges for medical records and reports related to claims under Article 1 of Chapter 97 of the N.C. Gen. Stat. shall be governed by the fees established by the North Carolina Industrial Commission pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-26.1 This section shall not apply to Department of Health and Human Services Disability Determination Services requests for copies of medical records made on behalf of an applicant for Social Security or Supplemental Security Income disability. (1993, c. 529, s. 4.3; 1993 (Reg. Sess., 1994), c. 679, s. 5.5; 1995 (Reg. Sess., 1996), c. 742, s. 36; 1997-443, ss. 11.3, 11A.118(b); 2019-191, s. 42.)