Individuals and law firms that paid CIOX Health certain fees for copies of Maryland medical records between October 1, 2016 and July 11, 2025 may qualify to claim an estimated $45.76 per eligible invoice from the CIOX Health Maryland medical records fee class action settlement. Law firms, copying services and insurers must claim by December 4, 2026; individuals, who are notified later, have until May 22, 2027.
Current Status
Claims are open for law firms, copying services and insurers, which must file by December 4, 2026. Individuals are notified in a second phase and can file once they receive that notice; their deadline is May 22, 2027, or 60 days after final approval. The court preliminarily approved the settlement on October 5, 2026, and the final approval hearing is set for March 23, 2027 at 10:00 a.m. No final approval order has been entered, and no payment date has been announced as of November 4, 2026.Free settlement alerts
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What Changed Recently?
Judge Adam B. Abelson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland preliminarily approved the settlement in Ayers, et al. v. CIOX Health, LLC, No. 8:24-cv-02208-ABA, on October 5, 2026, certified a settlement class and ordered notice to begin. The order directed the administrator, Strategic Claims Services, to send the first notices to law firms within 15 days and to send notices to individuals at the end of that first phase, about 80 days later.The lawsuit alleges that CIOX, a medical records release company now known as Datavant, LLC, overcharged people and their lawyers for copies of Maryland medical records in violation of the state’s Confidentiality of Medical Records Act. The most common charge at issue, according to the notice, is a $22.88 fee billed when a records search turned up no records. In July 2025 the Supreme Court of Maryland held, in a case against a different records company, Hollabaugh v. MRO Corp., that the Act does not allow a fee for a search that produces no records. According to the settlement agreement, CIOX does not dispute liability for those No Records Found fees after that ruling, but it denies the other claims and any other wrongdoing.
Who Qualifies?
The settlement class is all individuals and law firms, including solo practitioners, that between October 1, 2016 and July 11, 2025 sought copies of medical records from a Maryland health care provider, or had their records requested by someone else with their authorization, and were charged and paid (and, for law firms, were not otherwise reimbursed) any of these fees by CIOX:- a fee of any type after CIOX determined that no records existed (the “No Records Found” fee);
- per-page or total copying charges above the limits in Maryland’s medical records law, as adjusted each year for inflation; or
- a Retrieval Fee, Sales Tax, Electronic Delivery Fee or Certification Fee.
Class membership is limited to people and firms on the Class Member List that CIOX compiled from its billing records. CIOX told the court the class covers as many as 408,000 eligible claims and about 200,000 potential claimants.
How Much Can You Get?
CIOX is paying $4.5 million into a non-reversionary fund. Each approved claim is allocated $45.76, which the notice describes as about twice the $22.88 No Records Found fee. Every invoice that carried an eligible fee counts as a separate claim, so a claimant with several qualifying requests can receive a payment for each; at most one claim is paid per invoice.The $45.76 figure is an estimate. If approved claims multiplied by $45.76 would use up more than the money available, the administrator lowers every payment equally. If money is left over, part of it goes toward administration costs and the rest is split among approved claims as an additional payment. Class counsel will ask the court for attorneys’ fees of up to one-third of the fund, plus costs, which would come out of the fund. CIOX pays the class representatives’ incentive awards and most administration costs separately. Payments are made by check, and checks not cashed within 180 days are void; leftover money goes in equal shares to Public Justice, Health Care for the Homeless and Economic Action Maryland, if the court approves.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
No receipts are required, because the eligible invoices come from CIOX’s own records and the notice lists them. But the online claim form will not open without the Class Member Verification Code and PIN from the notice, and the claimant must be on CIOX’s Class Member List. Because someone who did not receive a notice cannot file, OCA treats this settlement as Proof Required: Yes.For each invoice, the claim form asks the claimant to confirm a name, mailing address, email address and phone number and to affirm one of two things. An individual affirms that they paid the eligible fee directly or reimbursed their lawyer for it. A law firm, copying service or insurer affirms that it paid the fee and was not reimbursed. If both a law firm and an individual claim the same invoice, the administrator presumes the individual paid, unless the firm shows otherwise. Copying services can be asked for backup documentation and have 15 days to provide it.
What Is the Deadline?
There are two sets of deadlines, depending on who received the notice:- Law firms, copying services and insurers: claims must be submitted online, or mailed with a postmark, by December 4, 2026. Requests to be excluded and objections are also due December 4, 2026.
- Individuals: claims are due May 22, 2027, which the notice also describes as 60 days after final approval. Requests to be excluded and objections are due February 22, 2027.
How Do You Take Action?
Claims are filed through the “File a Claim Online” page on the official CIOX Maryland settlement website, starting with the Class Member Verification Code and PIN, or by mailing the paper claim form that can be downloaded there. The site also posts the long-form notice, the settlement agreement and the important dates. Contact details for the administrator are on the settlement website’s Contact Us page.The settlement agreement asks law firms that were reimbursed by a client, or that do not claim, to give the administrator their clients’ last-known contact information through the settlement website, so those clients can be sent notice in the second phase.
What Happens Next?
Notices to individuals are scheduled to go out after the law-firm phase closes. Judge Abelson will hold the final approval hearing on March 23, 2027 at 10:00 a.m. to decide whether the settlement is fair and whether to approve class counsel’s fee request. The preliminary approval order sets the hearing in Courtroom 7D of the federal courthouse in Baltimore, while the long-form notice names the Greenbelt courthouse; the court can move or reschedule the hearing without further notice. If the court approves the settlement and there is no appeal, the notice says checks go out the later of 45 days after the settlement takes effect or 45 days after the claim deadline.Class counsel are Gordon, Wolf & Carney, Chtd. and Gilman & Bedigian, LLC, with Richard S. Gordon as lead counsel. Class members are not charged individually for them.
Sources and Verification
• Official CIOX Maryland settlement website, including its claim form and Important Dates pages• Order granting preliminary approval, Ayers, et al. v. CIOX Health, LLC, No. 8:24-cv-02208-ABA (D. Md.), ECF No. 73, entered October 5, 2026
• Settlement Agreement dated September 4, 2026 (ECF No. 71-2) and Second Amended Class Action Complaint (ECF No. 70-1)
• Long-form class notice, posted on the official settlement website
Questions
Who can file a claim in the CIOX Maryland medical records settlement?
Only people and law firms on the Class Member List that CIOX compiled from its own billing records. The class covers individuals and law firms, including some copying services and insurers, that requested Maryland medical records between October 1, 2016 and July 11, 2025 and paid CIOX a No Records Found fee, per-page or total charges above Maryland's caps, or a Retrieval Fee, Sales Tax, Electronic Delivery Fee or Certification Fee. Law firms qualify only for fees they were not reimbursed for.
How much does the CIOX settlement pay per claim?
The notice estimates about $45.76 for each approved claim, and each invoice that carried an eligible fee is a separate claim. The amount is an estimate: if approved claims would use up more than the money available, every payment is reduced; if money is left over, payments go up.
Why do individuals and law firms have different CIOX deadlines?
Notice goes out in two phases. Law firms, copying services and insurers were notified first and must claim by December 4, 2026. Individuals are notified later, including people whose law firm reports that they reimbursed the fee or that did not claim it, and they have until May 22, 2027, or 60 days after final approval, to claim.
What if my lawyer paid the CIOX fee and I paid my lawyer back?
Under the settlement, an individual who reimbursed a lawyer for an eligible fee is the class member for that invoice, not the law firm. If both a law firm and an individual claim the same invoice, the administrator presumes the individual paid unless the firm proves otherwise, and only one claim is paid per invoice.
Is the CIOX Maryland settlement the same as the HealthPort Pennsylvania settlements?
No. CIOX Health, now known as Datavant, was formerly HealthPort, but this case covers Maryland medical records requests from 2016 to 2025 under Maryland's Confidentiality of Medical Records Act. The HealthPort settlements are separate Pennsylvania cases with their own notices, portals and deadlines.
