Sec. 1. 16 MRSA §357, as amended by PL 1987, c. 791, §3, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

§357.__Medical records and copies of records

1.__Records admissible.__Records relating to an examination of a person or to medical, dental or hospital services, prescriptions or orthopedic appliances rendered to or prescribed for a person are admissible in any court, commission or agency proceeding for the purposes listed in subsection 2 without requiring the maker of the record or the record custodian to be called as a witness to authenticate the record.

2.__Purposes.__Records may be admitted as evidence of:

A.__The fair and reasonable charge for services or the necessity of services or treatments under subsection 1:

B.__The diagnosis of the physician or dentist;

C.__The prognosis of the physician or dentist;

D.__The opinion of the physician or dentist as to proximate cause of the condition diagnosed; or

E.__The opinion of the physician or dentist as to disability or incapacity, if any, proximately resulting from the condition diagnosed.

3.__Certification.__The record is admissible if certified by the maker of the record or record custodian to be true and complete.__Copies of photographic or microphotographic records kept by hospitals and other medical facilities, when duly certified by the person in charge of the hospital or other medical facility, must be admitted in evidence equally with the original photographs or microphotographs.

4.__Prior notice required.__The party offering the record as evidence must provide written notice of the intention to offer the record as evidence, together with a copy of the record, to the opposing party or parties or to the attorneys by certified mail, return receipt requested, not less than 10 days before the introduction of the records into evidence.__An affidavit of the notice and the return receipt must be filed with the clerk of the court, agency or commission immediately after the receipt has been returned.