IB 
Union Calendar No. 559 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5795 
[Report No. 115–724] 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to protect the confidentiality of 
substance use disorder patient records. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 15, 2018 
Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. BARR, Mr. 
HULTGREN, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, and Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
JUNE 12, 2018 
Additional sponsors: Mr. RENACCI, Ms. BONAMICI, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, 
Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. POLIQUIN, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. WALDEN, Mrs. COM-
STOCK, Mr. TURNER, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. BERA, 
Ms. DELBENE, Mr. ROKITA, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. 
GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. MAST, Mrs. NOEM, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. CRIST, Mr. 
KIND, Ms. JENKINS of Kansas, Mr. DUNN, and Mr. KILMER 
JUNE 12, 2018 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 15, 2018] 
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A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to protect the 
confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Overdose Prevention and 
Patient Safety Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS 
RELATING TO SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER. 
(a) CONFORMING CHANGES RELATING TO SUBSTANCE 
USE DISORDER.—Subsections (a) and (h) of section 543 
of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2) are 
each amended by striking ‘‘substance abuse’’ and inserting 
‘‘substance use disorder’’. 
(b) DISCLOSURES TO COVERED ENTITIES CONSISTENT 
WITH HIPAA.—Paragraph (2) of section 543(b) of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2(b)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(D) To a covered entity or to a program 
or activity described in subsection (a), for the 
purposes of treatment, payment, and health care 
operations, so long as such disclosure is made in 
accordance with HIPAA privacy regulation. Any 
redisclosure of information so disclosed may only 
be made in accordance with this section.’’. 
(c) DISCLOSURES OF DE-IDENTIFIED HEALTH INFOR-
MATION TO PUBLIC HEALTH AUTHORITIES.—Paragraph 
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(2) of section 543(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 290dd–2(b)), as amended by subsection (b), is fur-
ther amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(E) To a public health authority, so long 
as such content does not include any individ-
ually identifiable health information and meets 
the standards established in section 164.514 of 
title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (or suc-
cessor regulations) for creating de-identified in-
formation.’’. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—Subsection (b) of section 543 of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
section: 
‘‘(A) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘covered 
entity’ has the meaning given such term for pur-
poses of HIPAA privacy regulation. 
‘‘(B) HEALTH
CARE
OPERATIONS.—The 
term ‘health care operations’ has the meaning 
given such term for purposes of HIPAA privacy 
regulation. 
‘‘(C) HIPAA PRIVACY
REGULATION.—The 
term ‘HIPAA privacy regulation’ has the mean-
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ing given such term under section 1180(b)(3) of 
the Social Security Act. 
‘‘(D) INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE HEALTH 
INFORMATION.—The term ‘individually identifi-
able health information’ has the meaning given 
such term for purposes of HIPAA privacy regu-
lation. 
‘‘(E) PAYMENT.—The term ‘payment’ has 
the meaning given such term for purposes of 
HIPAA privacy regulation. 
‘‘(F) PUBLIC
HEALTH
AUTHORITY.—The 
term ‘public health authority’ has the meaning 
given such term for purposes of HIPAA privacy 
regulation. 
‘‘(G) TREATMENT.—The term ‘treatment’ 
has the meaning given such term for purposes of 
HIPAA privacy regulation.’’. 
(e) USE OF RECORDS IN CRIMINAL, CIVIL, OR ADMIN-
ISTRATIVE INVESTIGATIONS, ACTIONS, OR PROCEEDINGS.— 
Subsection (c) of section 543 of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(c) USE OF RECORDS IN CRIMINAL, CIVIL, OR ADMIN-
ISTRATIVE CONTEXTS.—Except as otherwise authorized by 
a court order under subsection (b)(2)(C) or by the consent 
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