Title: Protecting Jessica Grubb's Legacy Act
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Protecting Jessica Grubb's Legacy Act
This bill expands requirements relating to the confidentiality of substance-use disorder patient records, including by specifying that such records may not be shared with law enforcement officials without a court order; the bill also allows such records to be disclosed consistent with specified regulations issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1850 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1850

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to protect the confidentiality 
               of substance use disorder patient records.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 25, 2017

 Mr. Manchin (for himself, Mrs. Capito, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. King, Ms. 
  Harris, and Ms. Klobuchar) introduced the following bill; which was 
 read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
                              and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Jessica Grubb's Legacy 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CONFIDENTIALITY OF SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER PATIENT RECORDS.

    Section 543 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd-2) is 
amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by inserting ``substance use 
        disorder patient'' before ``records'';
            (2) by redesignating subsections (a) through (h) as 
        subsection (b) through (i), respectively;
            (3) by inserting before subsection (b), as so redesignated, 
        the following:
    ``(a) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this section to protect the 
confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records. Except as 
provided in subsection (f), such records shall be confidential and may 
be disclosed only for the purposes and under the circumstances 
expressly authorized under subsection (c), consistent with the 
allowable uses and disclosures to carry out treatment, payment, or 
health care operations as defined in regulations promulgated under 
section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability 
Act of 1996.'';
            (4) in subsection (b), as so redesignated--
                    (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 
                ``Requirement'' and inserting ``Definition'';
                    (B) by striking ``Records'' and inserting ``For 
                purposes of this section, the term `substance use 
                disorder patient record' means any record'';
                    (C) by striking ``which are'' and inserting ``that 
                is''; and
                    (D) by striking ``shall, except'' and all that 
                follows through ``subsection (b)'';
            (5) in subsection (c), as so redesignated--
                    (A) in the subsection heading, by inserting ``of 
                Substance Use Disorder Patient Records '' after 
                ``Disclosure'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``The content'' and 
                        inserting ``Except as described in paragraph 
                        (2), the content'';
                            (ii) by striking ``record referred to in 
                        subsection (a)'' and inserting ``substance use 
                        disorder patient record''; and
                            (iii) by striking ``subsection (g)'' and 
                        inserting ``subsection (h)''; and
                    (C) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
            ``(2) Permitted disclosure.--Whether or not the patient 
        with respect to whom any substance use disorder patient record 
        referred is maintained gives written consent, the content of 
        such record may be used or disclosed as follows:
                    ``(A) In connection with the provision of medical 
                services or health care to substance use disorder 
                patients consistent with the allowable uses and 
                disclosures to carry out treatment, payment, or health 
                care operations as described in section 164.506 of 
                title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 
                regulation.
                    ``(B) To qualified personnel for the purpose of 
                conducting scientific research, management audits, 
                financial audits, or program evaluation, but such 
                personnel may not identify, directly or indirectly, any 
                individual patient in any report of such research, 
                audit, or evaluation, or otherwise disclose patient 
                identities in any manner.'';
            (6) in subsection (d), as so redesignated--
                    (A) by striking ``Except as authorized'' and all 
                that follows through ``may be used'' and inserting the 
                following:
            ``(1) In general.--Except as authorized by an appropriate 
        order of a court of competent jurisdiction granted after 
        application showing good cause therefor, including the need to 
        avert a substantial risk of death or serious bodily harm:
                    ``(A) No substance use disorder patient record may 
                be used or disclosed to a law enforcement official''; 
                and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) In the case of a use or disclosure of the 
                content of a substance use disorder patient record for 
                purposes of treatment, payment, or health care 
                operations as provided for under subsection (c), no 
                further disclosure or re-disclosure of such record is 
                allowed to initiate or substantiate any criminal 
                charges against a patient or to conduct any 
                investigation of a patient.
            ``(2) Exclusionary effect and dismissal.--Any content of a 
        substance use disorder patient record that has been mistakenly, 
        wrongfully, or intentionally used or disclosed to initiate or 
        substantiate any criminal charges against a patient or to 
        conduct any investigation of a patient in violation of 
        paragraph (1)--
                    ``(A) shall be excluded from evidence in any 
                proposed or actual proceedings relating to such 
                criminal charges or investigation; and
                    ``(B) absent good cause shown, shall result in the 
                automatic dismissal of any proceedings for which the 
                content of the record was offered.'';
            (7) in subsection (h), as so redesignated--
                    (A) by striking ``subsection (h)'' and inserting 
                ``subsection (i)''; and
                    (B) by striking ``, including procedures and 
                criteria for the issuance and scope of orders under 
                subsection (b)(2)(C),''; and
            (8) in subsection (i), as so redesignated, by striking 
        ``subsection (g)'' and inserting ``subsection (h)''.
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