Bill > HR2062

Introduced Session

To amend the Public Health Service Act to protect the confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records. This bill more closely aligns the federal privacy standards for substance use disorder (SUD) patient records with the standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Specifically, the bill authorizes the disclosure of SUD patient records without a patient's written consent to: (1) a covered entity for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations, as long as the disclosure is made in accordance with HIPAA; and (2) a public health authority, as long as the content of the disclosure meets HIPAA standards regarding de-identified information. Current law authorizes disclosure of SUD patient records without a patient's written consent only to medical personnel in a medical emergency, to specified personnel for research or program evaluations, or pursuant to a court order. The bill also repeals and replaces criminal penalties for certain violations involving SUD patient records with the HIPAA civil penalty structure. It also applies HIPAA criminal penalties to wrongful disclosures of SUD patient records. In addition, the bill expands the current prohibition against using SUD patient records in criminal proceedings to include any use in specified federal, state, and local criminal and civil actions. The bill prohibits certain discrimination based on the release of SUD information under this bill.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Earl Blumenauer (D)*,  Kelly Armstrong (R),  Jim Baird (R),  Ami Bera (D),  Gus Bilirakis (R),  Sanford Bishop (D),  Suzanne Bonamici (D),  Susan Brooks (R),  Ted Budd (R),  Tim Burchett (R),  Buddy Carter (R),  Ed Case (D),  Ben Cline (R),  Tom Cole (R),  TJ Cox (D),  Angie Craig (D),  Dan Crenshaw (R),  Jason Crow (D),  Madeleine Dean (D),  Peter DeFazio (D),  Suzan DelBene (D),  Tom Emmer (R),  Dwight Evans (D),  Jared Golden (D),  Anthony Gonzalez (R),  Lance Gooden (R),  Josh Gottheimer (D),  Raúl Grijalva (D),  Debra Haaland (D),  Josh Harder (D),  Jahana Hayes (D),  Kevin Hern (R),  Katie Hill (D),  George Holding (R),  Trey Hollingsworth (R),  Kendra Horn (D),  Richard Hudson (R),  Bill Johnson (R),  Dusty Johnson (R),  John Joyce (R),  Mike Kelly (R),  Derek Kilmer (D),  Andy Kim (D),  Ron Kind (D),  Adam Kinzinger (R),  Ann Kirkpatrick (D),  Rick Larsen (D),  Zoe Lofgren (D),  Seth Moulton (D),  Markwayne Mullin (R),  Tom O'Halleran (D),  Pete Olson (R),  Jimmy Panetta (D),  Scott Peters (D),  Dean Phillips (D),  Jamie Raskin (D),  Guy Reschenthaler (R),  Harley Rouda (D),  Mary Gay Scanlon (D),  David Schweikert (R),  Terri Sewell (D),  Mikie Sherrill (D),  Pete Stauber (R),  Greg Steube (R),  Tom Suozzi (D),  Rashida Tlaib (D),  Lori Trahan (D),  David Trone (D),  Jeff Van Drew (R),  Greg Walden (R),  Steve Watkins (R),  Susan Wild (D),  Ron Wright (R), 

Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. (on 04/04/2019)

Official Document