§ 143-518. Confidentiality of patient information.
§ 143‑518. Confidentiality of patientinformation.
(a) Medical records compiled and maintained by the Department,hospitals participating in the statewide trauma system, or EMS providers inconnection with dispatch, response, treatment, or transport of individualpatients or in connection with the statewide trauma system pursuant to Article7 of Chapter 131E of the General Statutes may contain patient identifiable datawhich will allow linkage to other health care‑based data systems for thepurposes of quality management, peer review, and public health initiatives.
These medical records and data shall be strictly confidential and shallnot be considered public records within the meaning of G.S. 132‑1 andshall not be released or made public except under any of the followingconditions:
(1) Release is made of specific medical or epidemiologicalinformation for statistical purposes in a way that no person can be identified.
(2) Release is made of all or part of the medical record withthe written consent of the person or persons identified or their guardians.
(3) Release is made to health care personnel providing medicalcare to the patient.
(4) Release is made pursuant to a court order. Upon request ofthe person identified in the record, the record shall be reviewed in camera. Inthe trial, the trial judge may, during the taking of testimony concerning suchinformation, exclude from the courtroom all persons except the officers of thecourt, the parties, and those engaged in the trial of the case.
(5) Release is made to a Medical Review Committee as defined inG.S. 131E‑95, 90‑21.22A, or 130A‑45.7 or to a peer reviewcommittee as defined in G.S. 131E‑108, 131E‑155, 131E‑162,122C‑30, or 131D‑21.1.
(6) Release is made for use in a health research project under rulesadopted by the North Carolina Medical Care Commission. The Commission shalladopt rules that allow release of information when an institutional reviewboard, as defined by the Commission, has determined that the health researchproject:
a. Is of sufficient scientific importance to outweigh theintrusion into the privacy of the patient that would result from thedisclosure;
b. Is impracticable without the use or disclosure ofidentifying health information;
c. Contains safeguards to protect the information fromredisclosure;
d. Contains safeguards against identifying, directly orindirectly, any patient in any report of the research project; and
e. Contains procedures to remove or destroy at the earliestopportunity, consistent with the purposes of the project, information thatwould enable the patient to be identified, unless an institutional review boardauthorizes retention of identifying information for purposes of anotherresearch project.
(7) Release is made to a statewide data processor, as defined inArticle 11A of Chapter 131E of the General Statutes, in which case the data isdeemed to have been submitted as if it were required to have been submittedunder that Article.
(8) Release is made pursuant to any other law.
(b) Charges, accounts, credit histories, and other personalfinancial records compiled and maintained by the Department or EMS providers inconnection with the admission, treatment, and discharge of individual patientsare strictly confidential and shall not be released. (2001‑220, s. 1; 2002‑179, s. 11; 2003‑392, ss. 2(g),2(h).)