IIB 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6082 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JUNE 21, 2018 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions 
AN ACT 
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, 
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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 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 
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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 
in section 164.514(b) of title 45, Code of Fed-
eral Regulations (or successor regulations) for 
creating de-identified information.’’. 
(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 ‘cov-
ered entity’ has the meaning given such term 
for purposes 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-
ing given such term under section 1180(b)(3) of 
the Social Security Act. 
‘‘(D) 
INDIVIDUALLY
IDENTIFIABLE 
HEALTH INFORMATION.—The term ‘individually 
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identifiable health information’ has the meaning 
given such term for purposes of HIPAA privacy 
regulation. 
‘‘(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— 
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‘‘(1) be entered into evidence in any criminal 
prosecution or civil action before a Federal or State 
court; 
‘‘(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 of a patient; 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— 
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‘‘(A) each reference to ‘a penalty imposed 
under subsection (a)’ shall be treated as a ref-
erence to ‘a penalty imposed under subsection 
(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. 
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