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2017 SESSION

17104073D
HOUSE BILL NO. 1551
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions
on January 26, 2017)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate Farrell)
A BILL to amend and reenact § 2.2-3705.5 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 37.2-308.01, relating to commitment hearings for involuntary admissions; data sharing.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 2.2-3705.5 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 37.2-308.01 as follows:

§ 2.2-3705.5. Exclusions to application of chapter; health and social services records.

The following information contained in a public record is excluded from the mandatory disclosure provisions of this chapter but may be disclosed by the custodian in his discretion, except where such disclosure is prohibited by law. Redaction of information excluded under this section from a public record shall be conducted in accordance with § 2.2-3704.01.

1. Health records, except that such records may be personally reviewed by the individual who is the subject of such records, as provided in subsection F of § 32.1-127.1:03.

Where the person who is the subject of health records is confined in a state or local correctional facility, the administrator or chief medical officer of such facility may assert such confined person's right of access to the health records if the administrator or chief medical officer has reasonable cause to believe that such confined person has an infectious disease or other medical condition from which other persons so confined need to be protected. Health records shall only be reviewed and shall not be copied by such administrator or chief medical officer. The information in the health records of a person so confined shall continue to be confidential and shall not be disclosed by the administrator or chief medical officer of the facility to any person except the subject or except as provided by law.

Where the person who is the subject of health records is under the age of 18, his right of access may be asserted only by his guardian or his parent, including a noncustodial parent, unless such parent's parental rights have been terminated, a court of competent jurisdiction has restricted or denied such access, or a parent has been denied access to the health record in accordance with § 20-124.6. In instances where the person who is the subject thereof is an emancipated minor, a student in a public institution of higher education, or is a minor who has consented to his own treatment as authorized by § 16.1-338 or 54.1-2969, the right of access may be asserted by the subject person.

For the purposes of this chapter, statistical summaries of incidents and statistical data concerning abuse of individuals receiving services compiled by the Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services shall be disclosed. No such summaries or data shall include any information that identifies specific individuals receiving services.

2. Applications for admission to examinations or for licensure and scoring records maintained by the Department of Health Professions or any board in that department on individual licensees or applicants. However, such material may be made available during normal working hours for copying, at the requester's expense, by the individual who is the subject thereof, in the offices of the Department of Health Professions or in the offices of any health regulatory board, whichever may possess the material.

3. Reports, documentary evidence and other information as specified in §§ 51.5-122, 51.5-141, and 63.2-104.

4. Investigative notes; proprietary information not published, copyrighted or patented; information obtained from employee personnel records; personally identifiable information regarding residents, clients or other recipients of services; other correspondence and information furnished in confidence to the Department of Social Services in connection with an active investigation of an applicant or licensee pursuant to Chapters 17 (§ 63.2-1700 et seq.) and 18 (§ 63.2-1800 et seq.) of Title 63.2; and information furnished to the Office of the Attorney General in connection with an investigation or litigation pursuant to Article 19.1 (§ 8.01-216.1 et seq.) of Chapter 3 of Title 8.01 and Chapter 9 (§ 32.1-310 et seq.) of Title 32.1. Information from the records of completed investigations shall be disclosed in a form that does not reveal the identity of complainants, persons supplying information, or other individuals involved in the investigation.

5. Information collected for the designation and verification of trauma centers and other specialty care centers within the Statewide Emergency Medical Services System and Services pursuant to Article 2.1 (§ 32.1-111.1 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 32.1.

6. Reports and court documents relating to involuntary admission required to be kept confidential pursuant to § 37.2-818.

7. Data formerly required to be submitted to the Commissioner of Health relating to the establishment of new or the expansion of existing clinical health services, acquisition of major medical equipment, or certain projects requiring capital expenditures pursuant to former § 32.1-102.3:4.

8. Information required to be provided to the Department of Health Professions by certain licensees pursuant to § 54.1-2506.1.

9. Information acquired (i) during a review of any child death conducted by the State Child Fatality Review team established pursuant to § 32.1-283.1 or by a local or regional child fatality review team to the extent that such information is made confidential by § 32.1-283.2; (ii) during a review of any death conducted by a family violence fatality review team to the extent that such information is made confidential by § 32.1-283.3; or (iii) during a review of any adult death conducted by the Adult Fatality Review Team to the extent made confidential by § 32.1-283.5 or by a local or regional adult fatality review team to the extent that such information is made confidential by § 32.1-283.6.

10. Patient level data collected by the Board of Health and not yet processed, verified, and released, pursuant to § 32.1-276.9, to the Board by the nonprofit organization with which the Commissioner of Health has contracted pursuant to § 32.1-276.4.

11. Information held by the Health Practitioners' Monitoring Program Committee within the Department of Health Professions that may identify any practitioner who may be, or who is actually, impaired and disclosure of such information is prohibited by § 54.1-2517.

12. Information relating to a grant application, or accompanying a grant application, submitted to the Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative Advisory Board pursuant to Article 12 (§ 51.5-178 et seq.) of Chapter 14 of Title 51.5 that would (i) reveal (a) medical or mental health records or other data identifying individual patients or (b) proprietary business or research-related information produced or collected by the applicant in the conduct of or as a result of study or research on medical, rehabilitative, scientific, technical, or scholarly issues, when such information has not been publicly released, published, copyrighted, or patented, and (ii) be harmful to the competitive position of the applicant.

13. Any information copied, recorded, or received by the Commissioner of Health in the course of an examination, investigation, or review of a managed care health insurance plan licensee pursuant to §§ 32.1-137.4 and 32.1-137.5, including books, records, files, accounts, papers, documents, and any or all computer or other recordings.

14. Information and statistical registries required to be kept confidential pursuant to §§ 63.2-102 and 63.2-104.

15. Information relating to the prescribing and dispensing of covered substances to recipients and any abstracts from such information that are in the possession of the Prescription Monitoring Program pursuant to Chapter 25.2 (§ 54.1-2519 et seq.) of Title 54.1 and any material relating to the operation or security of the Program.

16. Records of the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program required to be kept confidential pursuant to § 38.2-5002.2.

17. Information held by the State Health Commissioner relating to the health of any person subject to an order of quarantine or an order of isolation pursuant to Article 3.02 (§ 32.1-48.05 et seq.) of Chapter 2 of Title 32.1. However, nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to authorize the withholding of statistical summaries, abstracts, or other information in aggregate form.

18. The names and addresses or other contact information of persons receiving transportation services from a state or local public body or its designee under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, (42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq.) or funded by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) created under § 63.2-600.

19. Information held by certain health care committees and entities that may be withheld from discovery as privileged communications pursuant to § 8.01-581.17.

20. Data and information specified in § 37.2-308.01 relating to proceedings provided for in Article 16 (§ 16.1-335 et seq.) of Chapter 11 of Title 16.1 and Chapter 8 (§ 37.2-800 et seq.) of Title 37.2.

§ 37.2-308.01. Commitment hearings for involuntary admissions; data sharing.

Notwithstanding the provisions of §§ 16.1-305 and 37.2-818, at the request of the Department and as provided in this section, the Office of the Executive Secretary shall provide to the Department electronic data, including individually identifiable information, on the proceedings provided for in Article 16 (§ 16.1-335 et seq.) of Chapter 11 of Title 16.1 and Chapter 8 (§ 37.2-800 et seq.). For the purposes of this section, "individually identifiable information" shall include the name and date of birth of the individual who is the subject of the proceeding and the last four digits of the individual's social security number.

Electronic data collected by the Department pursuant to this section may be used by the Department for the purposes of developing and maintaining statistical archives, conducting research on the outcome of proceedings provided for in Article 16 (§ 16.1-335 et seq.) of Chapter 11 of Title 16.1 and Chapter 8 (§ 37.2-800 et seq.), and preparing analyses and reports for use by the Department.

The Department shall take all necessary steps to protect the security and privacy of the electronic data to the same extent required by state and federal law and regulations governing health information privacy. Such electronic data shall not be subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.).