2006 Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5 - Exclusions to application of chapter; health and social services records

2.2-3705.5. Exclusions to application of chapter; health and socialservices records.

The following records are excluded from the provisions of this chapter butmay be disclosed by the custodian in his discretion, except where suchdisclosure is prohibited by law:

1. Health records, except that such records may be personally reviewed by theindividual who is the subject of such records, as provided in subsection F of 32.1-127.1:03.

Where the person who is the subject of health records is confined in a stateor local correctional facility, the administrator or chief medical officer ofsuch facility may assert such confined person's right of access to the healthrecords if the administrator or chief medical officer has reasonable cause tobelieve that such confined person has an infectious disease or other medicalcondition from which other persons so confined need to be protected. Healthrecords shall only be reviewed and shall not be copied by such administratoror chief medical officer. The information in the health records of a personso confined shall continue to be confidential and shall not be disclosed bythe administrator or chief medical officer of the facility to any personexcept the subject or except as provided by law.

Where the person who is the subject of health records is under the age of 18,his right of access may be asserted only by his guardian or his parent,including a noncustodial parent, unless such parent's parental rights havebeen terminated, a court of competent jurisdiction has restricted or deniedsuch access, or a parent has been denied access to the health record inaccordance with 20-124.6. In instances where the person who is the subjectthereof is an emancipated minor, a student in a public institution of highereducation, or is a minor who has consented to his own treatment as authorizedby 16.1-338 or 54.1-2969, the right of access may be asserted by thesubject person.

For the purposes of this chapter, statistical summaries of incidents andstatistical data concerning patient abuse as may be compiled by theCommissioner of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation andSubstance Abuse Services shall be open to inspection and copying as providedin 2.2-3704. No such summaries or data shall include anypatient-identifying information.

2. Applications for admission to examinations or for licensure and scoringrecords maintained by the Department of Health Professions or any board inthat department on individual licensees or applicants. However, such materialmay be made available during normal working hours for copying, at therequester's expense, by the individual who is the subject thereof, in theoffices of the Department of Health Professions or in the offices of anyhealth regulatory board, whichever may possess the material.

3. Reports, documentary evidence and other information as specified in 2.2-706 and 63.2-104.

4. Investigative notes; proprietary information not published, copyrighted orpatented; information obtained from employee personnel records; personallyidentifiable information regarding residents, clients or other recipients ofservices; and other correspondence and information furnished in confidence tothe Department of Social Services in connection with an active investigationof an applicant or licensee pursuant to Chapters 17 ( 63.2-1700 et seq.) and18 ( 63.2-1800 et seq.) of Title 63.2. However, nothing in this sectionshall prohibit disclosure of information from the records of completedinvestigations in a form that does not reveal the identity of complainants,persons supplying information, or other individuals involved in theinvestigation.

5. Information and records collected for the designation and verification oftrauma centers and other specialty care centers within the StatewideEmergency Medical Services System and Services pursuant to Article 2.1 (32.1-111.1 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 32.1.

6. Reports and court documents relating to involuntary admission required tobe kept confidential pursuant to 37.2-818.

7. Data formerly required to be submitted to the Commissioner of Healthrelating to the establishment of new or the expansion of existing clinicalhealth services, acquisition of major medical equipment, or certain projectsrequiring capital expenditures pursuant to former 32.1-102.3:4.

8. Information required to be provided to the Department of HealthProfessions by certain licensees pursuant to 54.1-2506.1.

9. All information and records acquired during a review of any child death bythe State Child Fatality Review team established pursuant to 32.1-283.1,during a review of any child death by a local or regional child fatalityreview team established pursuant to 32.1-283.2, and all information andrecords acquired during a review of any death by a family violence fatalityreview team established pursuant to 32.1-283.3.

10. Patient level data collected by the Board of Health and not yetprocessed, verified, and released, pursuant to 32.1-276.9, to the Board bythe nonprofit organization with which the Commissioner of Health hascontracted pursuant to 32.1-276.4.

11. Records of the Intervention Program Committee within the Department ofHealth Professions, to the extent such records may identify any practitionerwho may be, or who is actually, impaired to the extent disclosure isprohibited by 54.1-2517.

12. Records submitted as a grant application, or accompanying a grantapplication, to the Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative Advisory Boardpursuant to Chapter 3.1 ( 51.5-12.1 et seq.) of Title 51.5, to the extentsuch records contain (i) medical or mental records, or other data identifyingindividual patients or (ii) proprietary business or research-relatedinformation produced or collected by the applicant in the conduct of or as aresult of study or research on medical, rehabilitative, scientific, technicalor scholarly issues, when such information has not been publicly released,published, copyrighted or patented, if the disclosure of such informationwould be harmful to the competitive position of the applicant.

13. Any record copied, recorded or received by the Commissioner of Health inthe course of an examination, investigation or review of a managed carehealth insurance plan licensee pursuant to 32.1-137.4 and 32.1-137.5,including books, records, files, accounts, papers, documents, and any or allcomputer or other recordings.

14. Records, information and statistical registries required to be keptconfidential pursuant to 63.2-102 and 63.2-104.

15. All data, records, and reports relating to the prescribing and dispensingof covered substances to recipients and any abstracts from such data,records, and reports that are in the possession of the PrescriptionMonitoring Program pursuant to Chapter 25.2 ( 54.1-2519 et seq.) of Title54.1 and any material relating to the operation or security of the Program.

16. Records of the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury CompensationProgram required to be kept confidential pursuant to 38.2-5002.2.

17. Records of the State Health Commissioner relating to the health of anyperson or persons subject to an order of quarantine or an order of isolationpursuant to Article 3.02 ( 32.1-48.05 et seq.) of Chapter 2 of Title 32.1;this provision shall not, however, be construed to prohibit the disclosure ofstatistical summaries, abstracts or other information in aggregate form.

18. Records containing the names and addresses or other contact informationof persons receiving transportation services from a state or local publicbody or its designee under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act,(42 U.S.C. 12131 et seq.) or funded by Temporary Assistance for NeedyFamilies (TANF) created under 63.2-600.

(1999, cc. 485, 518, 703, 726, 793, 849, 852, 867, 868, 881, 2.1-342.01;2000, cc. 66, 237, 382, 400, 430, 583, 589, 592, 594, 618, 632, 657, 720,932, 933, 947, 1006, 1064; 2001, cc. 288, 518, 844, 2.2-3705; 2002, cc. 87,155, 242, 393, 478, 481, 499, 522, 571, 572, 633, 655, 715, 798, 830; 2003,cc. 274, 307, 327, 332, 358, 704, 801, 884, 891, 893, 897, 968; 2004, cc. 65,666, 690, 773, 1014, 1021; 2005, cc. 181, 227, 716.)