HB 383 - AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
11Mar2015… 0724h
2015 SESSION
01/05
HOUSE BILL 383
AN ACT relative to the immunization/vaccination registry.
SPONSORS: Rep. Kurk, Hills 2; Rep. Cordelli, Carr 4; Sen. Sanborn, Dist 9
COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
This bill clarifies certain options relating to the immunization/vaccination registry and exempts the registry from the right-to-know law.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
11Mar2015… 0724h
15-0772
01/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fifteen
AN ACT relative to the immunization/vaccination registry.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Communicable Disease; Rulemaking; Reference Change. Amend RSA 141-C:6, XVIII to read as follows:
XVIII. The immunization/vaccination registry established under RSA 141-C:20-f.
2 Communicable Disease; Immunization/Vaccination Registry. RSA 141-C:20-f is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
141-C:20-f Immunization/Vaccination Registry.
I. The department shall establish and maintain a state immunization/vaccination registry. The registry shall be a repository of accurate, complete and current immunization/vaccination records to aid, coordinate, and promote immunization/vaccination uptake in accordance with paragraph VI and provide for vaccine inventory monitoring and controls.
II. No patient, or the patient’s parent or guardian if the patient is a minor, shall be required to participate in the immunization/vaccination registry. At the time of immunization/vaccination by an administering health care provider or prior to or at an office visit with a current health care provider, a patient, or the patient’s parent or guardian if the patient is a minor, shall be provided an opportunity by the administering or current health care provider to opt out of the registry. Such an opportunity shall be provided in writing in a clear, succinct and conspicuous manner, in simple language, and in a form style and size easily readable by the average adult. If the communication is outside of an office visit, it shall be individually directed and the sole subject of the communication. The option shall be exercised by the patient or, if the patient is a minor, the patient’s parent or guardian by checking off a box and dating and signing the document. For each patient who does not exercise this option, the administering or the current health care provider shall provide to the immunization/vaccination registry such information relating to immunizations/vaccinations contained in the patient’s medical records held by the health care provider as the commissioner may require by rule. At the request of a former patient, any health care provider shall provide to the immunization/vaccination registry such information relating to immunizations/vaccinations contained in the patient’s medical records held by the health care provider as the commissioner may require by rule. No health care provider shall provide to the department or to the immunization/vaccination registry the name of, or any information relating to any patient who opts out of participating in the registry.
III. Except as provided in paragraph II, no information relating to an immunization/vaccination shall be reported by a health care provider or by any other person to the immunization/vaccination registry.
IV. Access to the information in the registry shall be limited to physicians, nurses, other appropriate health care providers, including those licensed in other states as determined by the commissioner, schools, and child care agencies, but only for named individuals in their care, and a record of each such access shall be kept by the immunization/vaccination registry. Health agencies of the state of New Hampshire or its political subdivisions demonstrating a need for such information, as determined by the commissioner for the purposes set forth in paragraph VI, shall have such access as the commissioner may determine. Access by health agencies of other states or the federal government, or by researchers, shall be limited to de-identified data only.
V. A patient who participates in the immunization/vaccination registry, or the patient’s parent or guardian if the registrant is a minor:
(a) May review and correct information contained in the immunization/vaccination registry upon verification from the patient’s health care provider in which case only the corrected information may remain in the registry, and no other record of the transaction, including the request itself, shall be kept; or
(b) May withdraw from participation at any time and remove information from the immunization/vaccination registry by submitting a request in writing to the department in which case no information relating to the patient shall remain in the registry, and no record of the transaction, including the request itself, shall be kept.
VI. The information contained in the registry shall be used for the following purposes:
(a) To remind registrants to receive all required immunizations/vaccinations in a timely manner by providing access to the registrant’s immunization/vaccination record and to provide registrants with information about recommended immunizations/vaccinations.
(b) To assure appropriate management and use of vaccines distributed by the department.
(c) To control communicable diseases by assisting in the identification of individuals who require immediate immunization/vaccination in the event of a disease outbreak.
VII. The commissioner shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A concerning the following:
(a) The establishment and maintenance of the immunization/vaccination registry.
(b) The methods for submitting and content of reports of immunizations/vaccinations.
(c) Procedures, for the patient or, if the patient is a minor, for the patient’s parent or guardian to opt out of participation in the immunization/vaccination registry at any time.
(d) Procedures for the patient or, if the patient is a minor, for the patient’s parent or guardian to review and correct information contained in the immunization/vaccination registry.
(e) Procedures for the patient or, if the patient is a minor, for the patient’s parent or guardian to remove information from the immunization/vaccination registry.
(f) Limits on and methods of access to the registry by those authorized to gain access under paragraph IV of this section.
(g) Procedures for managed care organizations to obtain summary statistics of immunization information on managed care organization members from the registry.
(h) Procedures for the patient or, if the patient is a minor, for the patient’s parent or guardian to reverse the previous decision to opt out of the immunization/vaccination registry.
VIII. Any person reporting, receiving, or disclosing information to or from the immunization/vaccination registry as authorized by this section or by any rule adopted pursuant to this section shall not be liable for civil damages of any kind connected with such submission or disclosure of immunization/vaccination information.
IX. Nothing in this section is intended to affect the obligations of persons under RSA 141-C:20-a to have their children immunized/vaccinated.
X. Nothing in this section shall preclude the right of the patient, or the patient’s parent or guardian if the patient is a minor, to claim exemption from immunization/vaccination as defined in RSA 141-C:20-c; nor shall anything in this section require such patient to be included in the immunization/vaccination registry if the patient, or the patient’s parent or guardian if the patient is a minor, objects thereto on any grounds.
XI. No health care provider shall discriminate in any way against a person solely because that person elects not to participate in the immunization/vaccination registry.
XII. Information collected under this section shall be treated as confidential and the records containing such information shall be exempt from the public disclosure provisions of RSA 91-A.
XIII. Information in the immunization/vaccination registry may be transferred to or from the immunization/vaccination registry through a health information organization, as defined in RSA?332-I:1, II(c), provided that no such information shall be retained by the health information organization.
3 Repeal. RSA 5-C:19, II(a)(10), relative to birth information, is repealed.
4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.