Extracting medical records from a hospital proved arduous for Peter Drier, the subject of a New York Times article on the surprise fees of out-of-network assistant surgeons.

Reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal detailed the six-week process Drier faced in obtaining his records, including requests that needed to be made via regular mail, numerous phone calls, consent forms and an estimate for copying fees that totaled $100.

“In a digital age when we can transfer money to purchase a house online or view a college transcript by logging on to a secure website, why is it so often difficult for patients to gain access to their medical data?” she wrote.

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