North Carolina § 130A-12 - Confidentiality of records.

§ 130A-12. Confidentiality of records.

All records containing privileged patient medical information, information protected under 45 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 160 and 164, and information collected under the authority of Part 4 of Article 5 of this Chapter that are in the possession of the Department of Health and Human Services or local health departments shall be confidential and shall not be public records pursuant to G.S. 132-1 . Notwithstanding G.S. 8-53 , the information contained in the records may be disclosed for purposes of treatment, payment, research, or health care operations to the extent that disclosure is permitted under 45 Code of Federal Regulations §§ 164.506 and 164.512(i). For purposes of this section, the terms "treatment," "payment," "research," and "health care operations" have the meanings given those terms in 45 Code of Federal Regulations § 164.501. History (1985, c. 470, s. 2; 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 890, s. 9; 1995, c. 428, s. 1.1; 2004-80, s. 4; 2006-255, s. 13.2; 2011-145, s. 13.3(qq); 2011-314, s. 3.) Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2004-80, s. 4, effective July 8, 2004, inserted "or information protected under 45 C.F.R. Parts 160 and 164" in the first sentence; and added the second through fourth sentences. Session Laws 2006-255, s. 13.2, effective August 23, 2006, in the first sentence, deleted "or" following the first occurrence of "information," substituted "Code of Federal Regulations" for "C.F.R.," inserted "and information collected under the authority of Part 4 of Article 5 of this Chapter," inserted "of Health and Human Services, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources" and made minor punctuation changes; and substituted "Code of Federal Regulations" for "C.F.R." near the end of the last sentence. Session Laws 2011-145, s. 13.3(qq), effective July 1, 2011, deleted "the Department of Environment and Natural Resources" following "Department of Health and Human Services" in the first sentence. Session Laws 2011-314, s. 3, effective January 1, 2012, in the third sentence, deleted "or G.S. 130A-143 " following "G.S. 8-53" and substituted "payment, research, or health care operations to the extent that disclosure is permitted under 45 Code of Federal Regulations §§ 164.506 and 164.512(i)" for "payment, or health care operations," and in the last sentence, inserted "'research'."