STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6489--A
IN SENATE
January 20, 2016
___________
Introduced by Sen. GOLDEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- 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:
20 (a) the patient who is the subject of the information, or a person
21 authorized to make health care decisions for the patient;
22 (b) a health care provider providing care or treatment to the patient,
23 for the purpose of such care or treatment; or a health information
24 system subject to regulations of the department, for the purpose of such
25 care or treatment;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11644-02-6
S. 6489--A 2
1 (c) an officer, inspector or investigator for a government health,
2 licensing or law enforcement agency acting under appropriate legal
3 authority;
4 (d) a person authorized by a court order to receive such information;
5 (e) the patient's health plan, insurer, or third party payer, or an
6 agent thereof, for the purpose of payment or reimbursement for health
7 care services, including determining compliance with the terms of cover-
8 age or medical necessity, or utilization review;
9 (f) a person or entity to whom, and for a purpose for which, disclo-
10 sure or transfer is otherwise explicitly authorized or required by law;
11 (g) a person or entity acting as an employee or agent of a person or
12 entity under any preceding paragraph of this subdivision, for the
13 purpose of and consistent with that paragraph; or
14 (h) a government entity as provided by law.
15 3. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the collection, use, trans-
16 fer, or sale of patient data by zip code, geographic region, or medical
17 specialty for marketing purposes, providing it does not contain individ-
18 ual identifying information.
19 4. This section shall not prevent a person from disclosing, selling,
20 transferring, or exchanging for value his or her own individual identi-
21 fying information, for any purpose; provided that the information does
22 not include individual identifying information pertaining to any other
23 person.
24 5. This section does not prohibit a not-for-profit or governmental
25 ambulance service or advanced life support first response service, or
26 agent thereof, from using a patient's name and address in order to
27 contact such patient or a family member at such address with requests
28 for donations to such service; providing that such use shall not include
29 disclosing any other individual identifying information.
30 6. No person or entity to whom or which individual identifying infor-
31 mation is disclosed, sold, transferred or exchanged shall disclose,
32 sell, transfer or exchange it to any person or entity other than for the
33 lawful purpose for which it was disclosed, sold, transferred or
34 exchanged to the person or entity, and without satisfactory assurance
35 that the recipient will safeguard the records from being disclosed or
36 used for marketing purposes.
37 7. This section does not authorize any disclosure, sale, transfer, or
38 exchange of individual identifying information that is not otherwise
39 authorized or required by law.
40 8. In addition to the commissioner's authority to enforce this section
41 under section three thousand twelve of this article, the attorney gener-
42 al shall have the authority to bring an action to enforce compliance
43 with this section without referral by the commissioner.
44 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
45 it shall have become a law; provided that, effective immediately, the
46 commissioner of health may make regulations and take other actions
47 reasonably necessary to implement this act on such date.
