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; requires electronic medical records systems to give qualified persons access to records in a single, secure format and to establish policies and procedures to endure confidentiality.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3838--A
Cal. No. 657
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 30, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. HINCHEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- reported favora-
bly from said committee, ordered to first and second report, ordered
to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place
in the order of third reading
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. Subdivision 2 of section 18 of the public health law is
2 amended by adding two new paragraphs (j) and (k) to read as follows:
3 (j) Subject to the provisions of subdivision three of this section,
4 upon the request of a qualified person, all electronic medical records
5 required to be released pursuant to this section shall be made available
6 to qualified persons in an electronic format through a web portal and
7 such records shall be provided in a format that allows qualified persons
8 to save the records to their own device.
9 (k) Within one hundred eighty days of the effective date of this para-
10 graph, the department shall establish rules and regulations, consistent
11 with state and federal law and regulations, requiring any electronic
12 medical records system to:
13 (i) be developed with the capability to enable qualified persons
14 access to such records in a single, secure electronic format for saving
15 to their own device and which may be updated automatically by the
16 provider; and
17 (ii) establish appropriate policies and procedures to ensure that all
18 applicable state and federal laws to protect the confidentiality of
19 individual medical records, including electronic medical records, are
20 followed.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
22 it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08155-02-5
