This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all subpoenas duces tecum for production of records relating to the condition or treatment of a patient which are served as of the effective date of this act.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO AMEND PUBLIC HEALTH LAW SECTION 18 - REVISED 4/7/00

AN ACT to amend Public Health Law in relation to access by qualified persons to medical records.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1

Public Health Law Section 18 entitled "Access to patient information" shall be renumbered as Public Health Law Section 18-b.

Section 2:

Public Health Law Section 18, Subdivision 1(g) is amended to read as follow".

(g) "Qualified persons" means any properly identified subject, adverse party, or a guardian appointed pursuant to article eighty-one of the mental hygience law, or a parent of an infant, a guardian of an infant appoint pursuant to article seventeen of the surrogate's court procedure act or other legally appointed guardian of an infant who may be entitled to request access to a clinical record pursuant to paragraph (c) of sub-division two of the section, or an attorney representing or acting on behalf of the subject or the subject's estate.

Section 3

Public Health Law Section 18 is amended by adding Section 18, Subdivision 1(j).

(j) "Adverse party" means a person or entity who may have legal financial liability due to the subject's medical condition and/or treatment and includes such person's or entity's representative such as attorney or insurance company who may have legal financial liability due to the subject's medical condition and/or treatment.

Section 4

Public Health Law Section 18 Subdivision 8 is modified to read as follows:

8. Challenges to accuracy. A qualified person, other than an adverse party may challenge the accuracy of information maintained in the patient information and may require that a brief written statement prepared by him or her concerning the challenged information be inserted into the patient information. This statement shall become a permanent part of the patient information and shall be released whenever the information at issue is released. This subdivision shall apply only to factual statements and shall not include a provider's observations, inferences or conclusions.

A facility may place reasonable restrictions on the time and frequency of any challenges to accuracy.

Section 5

Public Health Law Section 18, Subdivision I is modified by adding Sub-paragraph (k) to read as follows:

l(k) "Written request of any qualified person" means a written authorization signed and acknowledged by the subject permitting the release of medical records or subpoena duces tecum served by or on behalf of a qualified person.

Section 6

This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all requests for patient information which are pending as of the effective date of this act.