Bill Text: NY S07769 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Requires medical records to be made available to patients in an electronic format through a web portal and in a format that allows patients to save records to their own device.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2024-06-04 - referred to health [S07769 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S07769-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          7769

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    November 27, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen. HINCHEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

        AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation  to  the  release  of
          medical records in an electronic format

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

     1    Section 1. Section 17 of the public health law, as amended by  chapter
     2  165  of the laws of 1991, the first undesignated paragraph as amended by
     3  chapter 322 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
     4    § 17. Release of medical records. 1. Upon the written request  of  any
     5  competent patient, parent or guardian of an infant, a guardian appointed
     6  pursuant to article eighty-one of the mental hygiene law, or conservator
     7  of  a  conservatee,  an  examining,  consulting or treating physician or
     8  hospital must release and deliver, exclusive of personal  notes  of  the
     9  said  physician  or  hospital, copies of all x-rays, medical records and
    10  test records including all laboratory tests regarding  that  patient  to
    11  any  other designated physician or hospital provided, however, that such
    12  records concerning the treatment  of  an  infant  patient  for  venereal
    13  disease  or  the  performance  of an abortion operation upon such infant
    14  patient shall not be released or in any manner be made available to  the
    15  parent  or guardian of such infant, and provided, further, that original
    16  mammograms, rather than copies thereof, shall be released and delivered.
    17  Either the physician or hospital  incurring  the  expense  of  providing
    18  copies of x-rays, medical records and test records including all labora-
    19  tory  tests  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of this section may impose a
    20  reasonable charge to be paid by the person requesting  the  release  and
    21  deliverance   of  such  records  as  reimbursement  for  such  expenses,
    22  provided, however, that the physician  or  hospital  may  not  impose  a
    23  charge  for  copying  an  original  mammogram when the original has been
    24  released or delivered to any competent patient, parent or guardian of an
    25  infant, a guardian appointed  pursuant  to  article  eighty-one  of  the

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13171-01-3
        S. 7769                             2

     1  mental  hygiene  law,  or  a  conservator of a conservatee and provided,
     2  further, that any charge for delivering an original  mammogram  pursuant
     3  to  this section shall not exceed the documented costs associated there-
     4  with.  However,  the reasonable charge for paper copies shall not exceed
     5  seventy-five cents per page. A release of  records  under  this  section
     6  shall not be denied solely because of inability to pay. No charge may be
     7  imposed  under  this  section  for  providing,  releasing, or delivering
     8  medical records or copies of medical records  where  requested  for  the
     9  purpose of supporting an application, claim or appeal for any government
    10  benefit  or  program,  provided that, where a provider maintains medical
    11  records in electronic form, it shall provide the copy  in  either  elec-
    12  tronic  or paper form, as required by the government benefit or program,
    13  or at the patient's request.
    14    2. All medical records required to be released pursuant to subdivision
    15  one of this  section  shall  be  made  available  to  patients,  at  the
    16  patient's request, in an electronic format through a web portal and such
    17  records shall be in a format that allows patients to save the records to
    18  their own device.
    19    3.  For the purposes of this section the term "laboratory tests" shall
    20  include but not be limited to tests  and  examinations  administered  in
    21  clinical  laboratories  or  blood  banks  as  those terms are defined in
    22  section five hundred seventy-one of this chapter.
    23    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    24  it shall have become a law.