NY Pub Health L § 3006-A (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 30 - Emergency Medical Services 3006-A - Patient Privacy.

§ 3006-a. Patient privacy. 1. As used in this section:  (a) "Individual identifying information" means information identifying or tending to identify a patient.  (b) "Marketing" means advertising, detailing, marketing, promotion, or any  other  activity  that  is intended to be used to influence business volume, sales or market share or evaluate the effectiveness of marketing practices or marketing personnel, regardless of whether the  beneficiary of  the  marketing  is  a  governmental,  for-profit,  or not-for-profit entity.   2. No ambulance service, advanced life support first response service, or employee, member or agent thereof  shall  disclose,  sell,  transfer, exchange,  provide  or use any individual identifying information to any person or entity for the purpose of marketing.   3. Notwithstanding subdivision two of this  section,  and  subject  to otherwise applicable law, individual identifying information may be:  (a) disclosed, sold, transferred or exchanged to:  (i)  the  patient  who  is the subject of the information, or a person authorized to make health care decisions for the patient;  (ii) a health  care  provider  providing  care  or  treatment  to  the patient,  for  the  purpose  of  such  care  or  treatment;  or a health information system subject to regulations of  the  department,  for  the purpose of such care or treatment;  (iii)  an  officer, inspector or investigator for a government health, licensing or law  enforcement  agency  acting  under  appropriate  legal authority;  (iv)  a  person  authorized  by a court order or a subpoena to receive such information;  (v) the patient's health plan, insurer, or third party  payer,  or  an agent  thereof,  for  the purpose of payment or reimbursement for health care services,  including  determining  compliance  with  the  terms  of coverage or medical necessity, or utilization review;  (vi)  a  person  or  entity  to  whom,  and  for  a purpose for which, disclosure or transfer is otherwise explicitly authorized or required by law;  (vii) a person or  entity,  for  the  purpose  of  conducting  quality assurance  or  evaluating  the  performance  of  an  ambulance  service, advanced life support first response service, or any employee, member or agent thereof;  (viii) a person or entity acting as an employee or agent of  a  person or  entity  under  any  preceding paragraph of this subdivision, for the purpose of and consistent with that paragraph; or  (ix) a government entity as provided by law; and  (b) used by  such  ambulance  service,  advanced  life  support  first responder  service,  or employee, member or agent thereof, for training, promotion, staff recognition or recruitment  purposes,  consistent  with applicable law, provided the patient or a qualified person as defined by paragraph (G) of subdivision one of section eighteen of this chapter has provided  consent  to such use in a separate, stand-alone document. Such consent shall be limited to the particular type  or  types  of  use  and specific transaction or transactions for which such consent is given.   4.  Nothing  in  this  section  shall  prohibit  the  collection, use, transfer, or sale of patient data by zip  code,  geographic  region,  or medical  specialty for marketing purposes, providing it does not contain individual identifying information.   5. This section shall not prevent a person from  disclosing,  selling, transferring,  or  exchanging  for  value  his  or  her  own  individual identifying information, for any purpose; provided that the  information  does  not  include  individual identifying information pertaining to any other person.   6.  This  section  does  not prohibit a not-for-profit or governmental ambulance service or advanced life support first  response  service,  or agent  thereof,  from  using  a  patient's  name and address in order to contact such patient or a family member at such  address  with  requests for donations to such service; providing that such use shall not include disclosing any individual identifying information.   7.  No  person  or  entity  to  whom  or  which individual identifying information is disclosed, sold, transferred or exchanged shall disclose, sell, transfer or exchange it to any person or entity other than for the lawful  purpose  for  which  it  was  disclosed,  sold,  transferred  or exchanged  to  the  person or entity, and without satisfactory assurance that the recipient will safeguard the records from  being  disclosed  or used for marketing purposes.   8.  This section does not authorize any disclosure, sale, transfer, or exchange of individual identifying information  that  is  not  otherwise authorized or required by law.   9. In addition to the commissioner's authority to enforce this section under  section  three  thousand  twelve  of  this  article, the attorney general  shall  have  the  authority  to  bring  an  action  to  enforce compliance with this section without referral by the commissioner.