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2004 SESSION

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HB 876 Mental health information; disclosure.

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

SUMMARY AS PASSED HOUSE: (all summaries)

Disclosure of mental health information. Adds to the law in Title 37.1 relating to disclosure of mental health information various technical amendments to clarify (i) who may submit a bill to a third party payor; (ii) that the information on the patient must include his address and date of birth; (iii) that patient consent or authorization is required for disclosure of mental health information; and (iv) that patient consent or authorization must be in writing and must be dated and signed and must also comply with the requirements for authorization of disclosure set out in subsection G of § 32.1-127.1:03. Subsection G of § 31.2-127.1:03 requires the name of the patient, the provider and the identity of the person to whom disclosure may be made, and the nature of the information to be disclosed.

This bill also sets out a procedure by which a patient may receive a review by an objective physician or clinical psychologist of whether the patient may receive a copy of a third party payors' information in those instances where the treating physician or clinical psychologist has advised the third party payor that the information would be reasonably likely to endanger the life or physical safety of the patient or another person or contains a reference to another person that would be reasonably likely to cause substantial harm to the referenced person. The standard for limiting disclosure to the patient who is the subject of the record is changed from "might adversely affect the patient's health" to "would be reasonably likely to endanger the life or physical safety of the patient or another person, or that such record makes reference to a person other than a health care provider, and the access requested would be reasonably likely to cause substantial harm to such referenced person."


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