Bill > A01082

This bill requires general hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare providers to establish processes for providing electronic medical records to utilization review agents (URAs), which are organizations that review the medical necessity and appropriateness of healthcare services. The bill amends existing laws in the public health, mental hygiene, and insurance sectors to mandate that when URAs request medical records for prospective, concurrent, or retrospective review, healthcare providers must make these records available electronically. The bill emphasizes that URAs should only request medical records when necessary to verify the medical necessity of healthcare services and should only collect the relevant sections of medical records. Additionally, the bill includes provisions to ensure the confidentiality of individual medical records, including electronic records, in line with existing state and federal privacy laws. The legislation aims to streamline the process of medical record access for URAs while maintaining patient privacy protections.