Bill Text: NY A08226 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Prohibits emergency service providers from selling patient health information without written consent.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-5)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-06-09 - REFERRED TO HEALTH [A08226 Detail]
Download: New_York-2015-A08226-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8226--A 2015-2016 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY June 12, 2015 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BRAUNSTEIN, ABINANTI, ZEBROWSKI, COLTON, JAFFEE, STECK -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. CROUCH, GRAF, HIKIND, MARKEY, MONTESANO, O'DONNELL, SALADINO, SIMANOWITZ -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health -- recommitted to the Committee on Health in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- reported and referred to the Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the protection of private patient information by ambulance services The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 3001 of the public health law is amended by adding 2 two new subdivisions 22 and 23 to read as follows: 3 22. "Individual identifying information" means information identifying 4 or tending to identify a patient. 5 23. "Marketing" means, but is not limited to, advertising, detailing, 6 marketing, promotion, or any activity that is intended to be or could be 7 used to influence business volume, sales or market share or evaluate the 8 effectiveness of marketing practices or personnel, regardless of whether 9 the beneficiary of the marketing is a governmental, for-profit, or not- 10 for-profit entity. 11 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 3006-a 12 to read as follows: 13 § 3006-a. Patient privacy. 1. No ambulance service, advanced life 14 support first response service, or employee, member or agent thereof 15 shall disclose, sell, transfer, exchange or use any individual identify- 16 ing information to any person or entity for the purpose of marketing. 17 2. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, and subject to 18 otherwise applicable law, individual identifying information may be 19 disclosed, sold, transferred or exchanged to: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11644-03-6A. 8226--A 2 1 (a) the patient who is the subject of the information, or a person 2 authorized to make health care decisions for the patient; 3 (b) a health care provider providing care or treatment to the patient, 4 for the purpose of such care or treatment; or a health information 5 system subject to regulations of the department, for the purpose of such 6 care or treatment; 7 (c) an officer, inspector or investigator for a government health, 8 licensing or law enforcement agency acting under appropriate legal 9 authority; 10 (d) a person authorized by a court order to receive such information; 11 (e) the patient's health plan, insurer, or third party payer, or an 12 agent thereof, for the purpose of payment or reimbursement for health 13 care services, including determining compliance with the terms of cover- 14 age or medical necessity, or utilization review; 15 (f) a person or entity to whom, and for a purpose for which, disclo- 16 sure or transfer is otherwise explicitly authorized or required by law; 17 (g) a person or entity acting as an employee or agent of a person or 18 entity under any preceding paragraph of this subdivision, for the 19 purpose of and consistent with that paragraph; or 20 (h) a government entity as provided by law. 21 3. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the collection, use, trans- 22 fer, or sale of patient data by zip code, geographic region, or medical 23 specialty for marketing purposes, providing it does not contain individ- 24 ual identifying information. 25 4. This section shall not prevent a person from disclosing, selling, 26 transferring, or exchanging for value his or her own individual identi- 27 fying information, for any purpose; provided that the information does 28 not include individual identifying information pertaining to any other 29 person. 30 5. This section does not prohibit a not-for-profit or governmental 31 ambulance service or advanced life support first response service, or 32 agent thereof, from using a patient's name and address in order to 33 contact such patient or a family member at such address with requests 34 for donations to such service; providing that such use shall not include 35 disclosing any other individual identifying information. 36 6. No person or entity to whom or which individual identifying infor- 37 mation is disclosed, sold, transferred or exchanged shall disclose, 38 sell, transfer or exchange it to any person or entity other than for the 39 lawful purpose for which it was disclosed, sold, transferred or 40 exchanged to the person or entity, and without satisfactory assurance 41 that the recipient will safeguard the records from being disclosed or 42 used for marketing purposes. 43 7. This section does not authorize any disclosure, sale, transfer, or 44 exchange of individual identifying information that is not otherwise 45 authorized or required by law. 46 8. In addition to the commissioner's authority to enforce this section 47 under section three thousand twelve of this article, the attorney gener- 48 al shall have the authority to bring an action to enforce compliance 49 with this section without referral by the commissioner. 50 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 51 it shall have become a law; provided that, effective immediately, the 52 commissioner of health may make regulations and take other actions 53 reasonably necessary to implement this act on such date.
