imagesPA8ET6EQIn our previous post [found here], we explained that, under the Privacy Rule, HIPAA covered entities (health care providers and health plans) must provide individuals and their “personal representatives” with access to the individual’s protected health information. An individual’s personal representative is determined under State law. In this post, we will define who is a “personal representative” under New York law.

Section 18(2) of the New York Public Health Law (PHL) states that, upon written request, a health care provider shall provide an opportunity, within ten days, for a patient to inspect the patient’s information concerning or relating to the examination or treatment of the patient. Upon the written request of any qualified person, a health care provider shall furnish to the qualified person, within a reasonable time, a copy of any patient information requested which the authorized person may inspect. The law provides no specific time period by which copies of medical records must be provided. However, the New York State Department of Health considers 10 to 14 days to be a reasonable time in which a practitioner should respond to such a request.

A “qualified person” under PHL§ 18(1)(g) includes:

  1. the properly identified patient;
  2. a guardian for an incapacitated person appointed under article eighty-one of the mental hygiene law;
  3. a parent of an infant or a guardian of an infant appointed under article seventeen of the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act or other legally appointed guardian of an infant who may request access to a clinical record;
  4. a distributee of any deceased subject for whom no personal representative, as defined in the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law, has been appointed; or
  5. an attorney representing a qualified person or the subject’s estate who holds a power of attorney from the qualified person or the subject’s estate explicitly authorizing the holder to execute a written request for patient information.

PHL§ 18(1)(g) states that a qualified person shall be deemed a “personal representative of the individual” for purposes of HIPAA and its implementing regulations. Although not a “qualified person,” an agent appointed under a patient’s Health Care Proxy may also receive medical information and medical and clinical records necessary to make informed decisions regarding the patient’s health care (See PHL § 2982(3)). Presumably, the holder of a Health Care Proxy would also be a “personal representative of the individual” for purposes of HIPAA, although there is no explicit statement to that effect in PHL § 2982.

There are circumstances where a qualified person may be denied access to inspect or obtain a copy of the patient’s records. In the next post, we will explain those circumstances.