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2003 SESSION

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HB 2463 Patient health records privacy; subpoenas duces tecum; emergency.

Introduced by: John M. O'Bannon, III | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS PASSED: (all summaries)

Patient health records privacy; subpoenas duces tecum; emergency. Revises the subpoena provisions in the patient records law to provide consistency between the existing Virginia provisions and federal regulations promulgated pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 relating to standards for security and privacy of protected health information. This bill requires that the return date for a subpoena duces tecum will be 15 days unless a court or administrative agency directs an earlier day and that a motion to quash must be filed within 15 days of the notice to the patient or the provider. The language of the notice that must be given to providers acknowledges that the patient or the patient's counsel has received a copy of the subpoena; that either the patient or the provider has the right to file a motion to quash; and as HIPAA requires, that the provider must not respond to the subpoena until he has received written certification from the party on whose behalf the subpoena was issued that the time for filing a motion to quash has elapsed and that no motion was filed or any filed motion has been resolved and the disclosures are consistent with this resolution. As provided in present law, upon receiving a notice that the patient has filed a motion to quash or if the provider files such motion, the provider must send the records to the court or administrative agency in a sealed envelope with a cover letter stating that confidential health records are enclosed and are to be held pending the court's ruling on the motion to quash. The sealed envelope and the cover letter must be placed in an outer envelope or package for transmittal. Explicit instructions are provided for the resolutions of motions to quash in terms of the disposition of the records and the certification that must be given to the provider, as follows: full disclosure and no records submitted under seal to the court or administrative agency to be returned or, if the provider has not responded to the subpoena, that he must respond with the records within 15 days of the subpoena or five days of the certification, whichever is later; no disclosure and return of all records submitted under seal to the court or, if the provider has not submitted records to the court or agency, that the provider must not respond to the subpoena; or limited disclosure and return of a portion of the records submitted under seal to the court or administrative agency or if the provider has not responded to the subpoena, that he must respond with the portion of the records that have been authorized to be disclosed within 15 days of the subpoena date or the five days of the certification. "Certification" is defined as "a written representation that is delivered by hand, by first-class mail, by overnight delivery service, or by facsimile if the sender obtains a facsimile-machine-generated confirmation reflecting that all facsimile pages were successfully transmitted." This bill contains an emergency clause providing that the act will be in force from its passage, i.e., on such date as may be consistent with the constitutional requirements for passage of legislation that does not become effective in due course.


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