2010 Hawaii Code
DIVISION 1. GOVERNMENT
TITLE 19. HEALTH
334. Mental Health, Mental Illness, Drug Addiction, and Alcoholism
§334-5 Confidentiality of records.

§334-5 Confidentiality of records. All certificates, applications, records, and reports made for the purposes of this chapter and directly or indirectly identifying a person subject hereto shall be kept confidential and shall not be disclosed by any person except so far as:

(1) The person identified, or the person's legal guardian, consents;

(2) Disclosure may be deemed necessary by the director of health or by the administrator of a private psychiatric or special treatment facility to carry out this chapter;

(3) A court may direct upon its determination that disclosure is necessary for the conduct of proceedings before it and that failure to make the disclosure would be contrary to the public interest;

(4) Disclosure may be deemed necessary under the federal Protection and Advocacy for Mentally Ill Individuals Act of 1986, Public Law 99-319, to protect and advocate the rights of persons with mental illness who reside in facilities providing treatment or care;

(5) Disclosure of a person's treatment summary from a previous five-year period from one health care provider to another may be deemed necessary for the purpose of continued care and treatment of the person, or for health care operations; provided that the health care provider seeking disclosure makes reasonable efforts to obtain advance consent from the person; or

(6) Disclosures are made between the person's health care provider and payor to obtain reimbursement for services rendered to the person; provided that disclosure shall be made only if the provider informs the person that a reimbursement claim will be made to the person's payor, the person is afforded an opportunity to pay the reimbursement directly, and the person does not pay.

Nothing in this section shall preclude the application of more restrictive rules of confidentiality set forth for records covered by Title 42, Part 2, Code of Federal Regulations, relating to the confidentiality of alcohol and drug abuse patient records. For the purposes of this section, "facilities" shall include but not be limited to hospitals, nursing homes, community facilities for mentally ill individuals, boarding homes, and care homes.

Nothing in this section shall preclude disclosure, upon proper inquiry, of any information relating to a particular patient and not clearly adverse to the interests of the patient, to the patient, the patient's family, legal guardian, or relatives, nor, except as provided above, affect the application of any other rule or statute of confidentiality. The use of the information disclosed shall be limited to the purpose for which the information was furnished. [L 1967, c 259, pt of §1; HRS §334-5; am L 1973, c 122, §1; gen ch 1985; am L 1987, c 148, §1; am L 1999, c 87, §3; am L Sp 2000 2d, c 1, §1; am L 2001, c 244, §§3, 6; am L 2003, c 204, §8; am L 2004, c 22, §1; am L 2008, c 98, §2]