AB 937

This bill makes various changes to statutes regarding access to and release of

patient health care records.

The bill substitutes the term “representative of the patient" for the term

“person authorized by the patient" throughout the statutes related to confidentiality

of and access to health care records. The bill also changes the definition such that

a “representative of the patient" is any of the following: the parent or guardian or

legal custodian of a patient who is a minor; the person vested with supervision of a

patient who is a child under certain state laws; a person who has legal authority to

act on behalf of an adult patient in making decisions related to health care; the

personal representative, or special administrator, who has the authority to act on

behalf of a deceased patient or a deceased patient's estate; a health care agent

designated by an adult patient as a principal under a power of attorney for health

care instrument if the patient has been found to be incapacitated except as limited

in that instrument; a temporary guardian appointed for a patient; or an individual

who is treated as a personal representative under the federal privacy rule associated

with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The federal

privacy rule associated with HIPAA specifies that a personal representative is a

person who has authority to act on behalf of an adult or an emancipated minor in

making health care decisions; a parent, guardian, or other person acting in loco

parentis who has authority to act on behalf of an unemancipated minor in making

health care decisions under certain circumstances specified in the rule; or an

executor, administrator, or other person who has authority to act on behalf of a

deceased individual or the deceased individual's estate.

Current state law allows that a patient or person authorized by the patient may,

among other things, authorize release of the patient's health care records to others,

inspect the patient's health care records, obtain copies of the patient's health care

records for a reduced fee if the patient is eligible for Medical Assistance, and obtain

copies of the patient's health care records without paying a certification fee or a

retrieval fee. A representative of the patient retains that authority under this bill.

Under the bill, a health care provider is allowed to elect not to consider a person

as a representative of the patient under circumstances similar to the federal privacy

rule associated with HIPAA. A health care provider, in its discretion, may elect not

to consider a person a representative of the patient if 1) the patient has been or may

be subjected to domestic violence, abuse, or neglect by the person or 2) considering

the person as a representative of the patient could endanger the patient and, in the

exercise of the health care provider's professional judgment, it is not in the best

interest of the patient to consider that person a representative of the patient.

This bill also changes the fees allowed for obtaining copies of health records to

include fees relating to electronic records and electronic delivery of health records.

Among other things, the bill establishes a maximum per page charge of $300 per