I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2062 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to protect the confidentiality of 
substance use disorder patient records. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 3, 2019 
Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. WALDEN, 
Mr. PETERS, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. KELLY of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania, Mr. ROUDA, 
Mr. WRIGHT, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. HOLDING, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. CRENSHAW, 
Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. EVANS, Mr. 
BILIRAKIS, and Ms. SEWELL of Alabama) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to protect the 
confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records. 
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’’. 
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SEC. 2. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS 
RELATING TO SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER. 
(a) CONFORMING CHANGES RELATING
TO SUB-
STANCE USE DISORDER.—Subsections (a) and (h) of sec-
tion 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 CON-
SISTENT 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 regu-
lation. Any redisclosure of information so dis-
closed may only be made in accordance with 
this section.’’. 
(c) DISCLOSURES OF DE-IDENTIFIED HEALTH IN-
FORMATION TO PUBLIC HEALTH AUTHORITIES.—Para-
graph (2) of section 543(b) of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2(b)), as amended by subsection 
(b), is further amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(E) To a public health authority, so long 
as such content meets the standards established 
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‘‘(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 AD-
MINISTRATIVE
INVESTIGATIONS, ACTIONS, 
OR
PRO-
CEEDINGS.—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 AD-
MINISTRATIVE CONTEXTS.—Except as otherwise author-
ized by a court order under subsection (b)(2)(C) or by the 
consent of the patient, a record referred to in subsection 
(a) may not, in connection with any investigation of, or 
criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding against, a pa-
tient— 
‘‘(1) be entered into evidence in any criminal 
prosecution or civil action before a Federal or State 
court; 
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‘‘(2) form part of the record for decision or oth-
erwise be taken into account in any proceeding be-
fore a Federal agency; 
‘‘(3) be used by any Federal, State, or local 
agency for a law enforcement purpose or to conduct 
any law enforcement investigation; or 
‘‘(4) be used in any application for a warrant.’’. 
(f) PENALTIES.—Subsection (f) of section 543 of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2) is amend-
ed to read as follows: 
‘‘(f) PENALTIES.—The provisions of sections 1176 
and 1177 of the Social Security Act shall apply to a viola-
tion of this section to the extent and in the same manner 
as such provisions apply to a violation of part C of title 
XI of such Act. In applying the previous sentence— 
‘‘(1) the reference to ‘this subsection’ in sub-
section (a)(2) of such section 1176 shall be treated 
as a reference to ‘this subsection (including as ap-
plied pursuant to section 543(f) of the Public Health 
Service Act)’; and 
‘‘(2) in subsection (b) of such section 1176— 
‘‘(A) each reference to ‘a penalty imposed 
under subsection (a)’ shall be treated as a ref-
erence to ‘a penalty imposed under subsection 
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(a) (including as applied pursuant to section 
543(f) of the Public Health Service Act)’; and 
‘‘(B) each reference to ‘no damages ob-
tained under subsection (d)’ shall be treated as 
a reference to ‘no damages obtained under sub-
section (d) (including as applied pursuant to 
section 543(f) of the Public Health Service 
Act)’.’’. 
(g) ANTIDISCRIMINATION.—Section 543 of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(i) ANTIDISCRIMINATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No entity shall discrimi-
nate against an individual on the basis of informa-
tion received by such entity pursuant to a disclosure 
made under subsection (b) in— 
‘‘(A) admission or treatment for health 
care; 
‘‘(B) hiring or terms of employment; 
‘‘(C) the sale or rental of housing; or 
‘‘(D) access to Federal, State, or local 
courts. 
‘‘(2) RECIPIENTS OF FEDERAL FUNDS.—No re-
cipient of Federal funds shall discriminate against 
an individual on the basis of information received by 
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such recipient pursuant to a disclosure made under 
subsection (b) in affording access to the services 
provided with such funds.’’. 
(h) NOTIFICATION IN CASE OF BREACH.—Section 
543 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd– 
2), as amended by subsection (g), is further amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(j) NOTIFICATION IN CASE OF BREACH.— 
‘‘(1) APPLICATION
OF
HITECH
NOTIFICATION 
OF BREACH PROVISIONS.—The provisions of section 
13402 of the HITECH Act (42 U.S.C. 17932) shall 
apply to a program or activity described in sub-
section (a), in case of a breach of records described 
in subsection (a), to the same extent and in the 
same manner as such provisions apply to a covered 
entity in the case of a breach of unsecured protected 
health information. 
‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 
terms ‘covered entity’ and ‘unsecured protected 
health information’ have the meanings given to such 
terms for purposes of such section 13402.’’. 
(i) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con-
gress that any person treating a patient through a pro-
gram or activity with respect to which the confidentiality 
requirements of section 543 of the Public Health Service 
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Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2) apply should access the applica-
ble State-based prescription drug monitoring program as 
a precaution against substance use disorder. 
(j) REGULATIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, in consultation with appropriate 
Federal agencies, shall make such revisions to regu-
lations as may be necessary for implementing and 
enforcing the amendments made by this section, 
such that such amendments shall apply with respect 
to uses and disclosures of information occurring on 
or after the date that is 12 months after the date 
of enactment of this Act. 
(2) EASILY UNDERSTANDABLE NOTICE OF PRI-
VACY PRACTICES.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services, in consultation with 
appropriate experts, shall update section 164.520 of 
title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, so that cov-
ered entities provide notice, written in plain lan-
guage, of privacy practices regarding patient records 
referred to in section 543(a) of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2(a)), including— 
(A) a statement of the patient’s rights, in-
cluding self-pay patients, with respect to pro-
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tected health information and a brief descrip-
tion of how the individual may exercise these 
rights (as required by paragraph (b)(1)(iv) of 
such section 164.520); and 
(B) a description of each purpose for 
which the covered entity is permitted or re-
quired to use or disclose protected health infor-
mation without the patient’s written authoriza-
tion (as required by paragraph (b)(2) of such 
section 164.520). 
(k) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 
or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed 
to limit— 
(1) a patient’s right, as described in section 
164.522 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, or 
any successor regulation, to request a restriction on 
the use or disclosure of a record referred to in sec-
tion 543(a) of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 290dd–2(a)) for purposes of treatment, pay-
ment, or health care operations; or 
(2) a covered entity’s choice, as described in 
section 164.506 of title 45, Code of Federal Regula-
tions, or any successor regulation, to obtain the con-
sent of the individual to use or disclose a record re-
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ferred to in such section 543(a) to carry out treat-
ment, payment, or health care operation. 
(l) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con-
gress that— 
(1) patients have the right to request a restric-
tion on the use or disclosure of a record referred to 
in section 543(a) of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 290dd–2(a)) for treatment, payment, or 
health care operations; and 
(2) covered entities should make every reason-
able effort to the extent feasible to comply with a 
patient’s request for a restriction regarding such use 
or disclosure. 
Æ 
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