Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 48 - PUBLIC HEALTH-GENERAL › Part V - Preventive Health Services › Subpart 31 - Louisiana Tumor Registry › Chapter 85 - Statewide Tumor Registry Program › Section V-8509 - Confidentiality

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A.R.S.
				  40:1105.6 and 1105.8 of Acts 1995, No. 1197,
				  strengthen and enforce previous legislative provisions to ensure the
				  confidentiality of patients, health care providers, and reporting facilities.
				  These laws protect licensed health care providers and facilities that
				  participate in the cancer registration program from liability. They also
				  specify the confidentiality requirements of the Louisiana Tumor
				  Registry.
B. Louisiana Tumor
				  Registry policies and procedures comply with the standards of the Health
				  Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The Office of Civil
				  Rights has determined that releases of confidential data to state-mandated
				  cancer registries do not require patient consent, since the registries serve as
				  a public health authority.
C. LTR
				  Responsibilities. The president or his or her designee shall take strict
				  measures to ensure that all case-specific information is treated as
				  confidential and privileged. All employees, consultants, and contractors of the
				  Louisiana Tumor Registry and of its regional offices shall sign an "agreement
				  to maintain confidentiality of data" each year, and these agreements shall be
				  kept on file. Any employee who discloses confidential information through gross
				  negligence or willful misconduct is subject to penalty under the law.
D. Protection of Reporting
				  Sources
.
Health care providers and facilities that disclose
				  cancer morbidity or mortality information to the Louisiana Tumor Registry or
				  its employees in conformity with the law shall not be subject to actions for
				  damages. Their licenses shall not be denied, suspended, or revoked for
				  good-faith release of confidential information to the Louisiana Tumor
				  Registry.
E. Protection of
				  Case-Specific Data Obtained by Special Morbidity and Mortality Studies and
				  Other Research Studies
1.R.S.
				  40:3.1(A) through (H) and
				  R.S.
				  40:1105.8(F) state that all
				  confidential data such as records of interviews, questionnaires, reports,
				  statements, notes, and memoranda that are procured or prepared by employees or
				  agents of the Office of Public Health shall be used solely for statistical,
				  scientific and medical research purposes. This applies also to data procured by
				  employees or agents of the Louisiana Tumor Registry or organizations, including
				  public or private college universities acting in collaboration with the
				  Louisiana Tumor Registry in special cancer studies.
2. No case-specific data shall be available
				  for subpoena, nor shall they be disclosed, discoverable, or compelled to be
				  produced in any civil, criminal, administrative, or other proceeding, nor shall
				  such records be deemed admissible as evidence in any civil, criminal,
				  administrative, or other tribunal or court for any reason.