STAND. COM. REP. NO. 693-04
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: H.B. No. 2098
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Consumer Protection and Commerce and Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2098 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEDICAL RECORDS,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to prescribe the circumstances under which a health care provider is permitted to release the medical records of a deceased person.
Testimony in support of this bill was received from Queen's Medical Center, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Kaiser Permanente, Hawaii Pacific Health, and Health Information Management Association of Hawaii.
Your Committees find that under federal regulations implementing patient privacy standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), effective April 14, 2003, only an executor, administrator, or a person authorized by law to act on behalf of a deceased or the deceased's estate may access or authorize release of the deceased's health information.
This aspect of the federal law creates problems for the deceased's family when the deceased does not have a will naming an executor or administrator. It can be very time consuming and expensive for a family in this situation to gain access to the medical records.
This bill, consistent with HIPPA, establishes the "deceased person's next of kin," as a class of persons authorized by law to access health records or authorize their release.
Your Committees have amended this bill by:
(1) Adding a new provision that requires a health care provider to honor a deceased person's written request that the person's medical records not be released to the next of kin;
(2) Specifying that when a health care provider refuses requests for release of records containing specially protected health information, the refusal of the request may be in whole or in part; and
(3) Removing the requirement that the documentation verifying a personal representative's authority be signed by the personal representative.
To facilitate implementation and application of the bill, other technical, nonsubstantive amendments were made for clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Consumer Protection and Commerce and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2098, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2098, H.D. 1.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Consumer Protection and Commerce and Judiciary,
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____________________________ ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair |
____________________________ KENNETH T. HIRAKI, Chair |
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